Stick It Review

A biker and skateboarder challenge each other at the beginning of the film leaping off the roof of a house down a slide and into an unfinished pool. The biker who ends up crashing through a big bay window turns out to be a girl Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym) who walked out of the World Champion Gymnastics competition a few years back for some mysterious reason. When she’s arrested for the vandalism a kind judge (Polly Holliday) sends her to a tough gymnastics camp run by Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges). There she faces competition by a former foe Joanne (Vanessa Lengies) and befriends gymnasts Wei-Wei (Nikki SooHoo) and Mina (Maddy Curley). As they start winning competitions as a team Haley discovers that the judging isn’t always equitable and she works out a scheme to shine a light on the arbitrary unfairness by essentially telling them to “stick it.” The girls in the cast you’ve probably seen on TV shows if you have anyone in your house who’s a pre-teen. Lengies was on Popular Mechanics for Kids; others have been on Nickelodeon shows and some real-life Olympic medalists such as Carly Patterson Nastia Liukin Elfi Schlegel and Bart Conner (Nadia Comaneci’s husband) all play themselves in Stick It. Haley’s two best friends are guys Frank (Kellan Lutz) and Poot (John Patrick Amedori) who play some pretty goofy sidekicks–and they’ve got a completely platonic relationship with Haley. Peregrym in the lead role is a surprising stand-out actress who comes across as a more pouty taller Hilary Swank. Her scenes with Bridges as her coach are reminiscent of the tender but sometimes creepy moments between Swank and Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby. Director/writer Jessica Bendinger shows a subtle finesse in her first feature. From the impressively colorful graffiti-style credits to the moments of fast-motion speed-ups and overlapped synchronized events she is able to keep the pace going in what is potentially a bore to anyone who isn’t into watching gymnastics. Previously  Bendinger scripted the surprising cheerleader hit Bring it On and the recent charming mermaid romance Aquamarine. But Stick It is also quite predictable. It doesn’t have the delightful unpredictable twists of Bring it On or the warm fuzzy teen girl feel of Aquamarine. Yet she’s able to tell a good inspirational story for a young audience even if it is burdened with bad puns and lines like “I have a Constitutional right to ‘bare’ arms” and “Who died and made you Nadia?” And of course with the guys there are a few fart jokes too.