The University Daily Kansas
Thursday, August 24, 2000
Movies
Section B • Page 5
Bring it On makes you want to turn it off
By Clare McLellan
Actresses Notina Reed, Brandi Williams, Gabrelle Union and Shamari Fears dance along with a cheerleading team from Rancho Carne High School to prove that the high school stole their cheer. This dilemma drives the plot of the movie *Bring It on*. Concluded photo
For a movie that most college students probably do not have one ounce of interest in seeing, myself included, *Bring It On* wasn't the nightmare I expected.
Special to the Kansan
Don't be mistaken, however. It was not good.
Starring Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides,
Drop Dead Gorgeous), Bring it On is perhaps
the first film to revolve solely around cheer-
leading and all the drama that comes along
with it.
Rancho Carne High School has been the national cheerleading champion for five years running, and Torrance (Dunst), the new captain of the squad, is determined that the title will not be lost on her watch. Trouble ensues when the African-American squad across town steps in and confronts them with proof of stolen routines and cheers.
"You didn't actually think a white girl came up with those moves, did you?" quips Isis (Gabrielle Union), the other squad's captain.
The fact that a movie was actually made with this vapid plot is possibly intriguing enough to make one want to see it. Possibly. The truth is, the majority of young girls have dreams of being a cheerleader in high school. Who better than blond-haired, blue-eyed Dunst and her crew of standard, hot teenage girls to play out their fantasies onscreen? In our Britney Spears-out world, saccharin sells, and when the studio execs heard this story, they saw dollar signs.
needs to keep it entertaining.
The movie was surprisingly funny (and crass) at parts but devoid of any sort of real value. It seemed to be trying for the brashness of *Citiless* but couldn't quite pull it off. The opening sequence jars the audience as Dunst and her squail cheer about how great they are and glorify their status as sex objects. "I'm sexy, I'm cute, I'm popular to boot..." the girls chant proudly. The obscenities fly throughout the movie as do the sexual innuendoes, which give this film its PG-13 rating and the kick it
This film is not noteworthy in any regard — what a shocker — but for what it is intended to be, Bring It On doesn't fall completely flat. While the film centers on the girls, the supporting male characters provide the standout performances. The new boy in school, Cliff (Jesse Bradford), does a fine job with his role as the "sit-and-wait-for-the-popular-girl-to-come-around" guy, balanced by his wisp-cracking sister in the film, Missy (Eliza Dushku), who begrudgingly joins the squad to keep up with her gymnastic talent.
Torrance's younger brother is the quintessential pest, and her college-bound boyfriend is the quintessential cheesy male cheerleader who makes you want to vomit. Ian, the last-resort choreographer whom Torrance hires to help the squad create a fresh routine, is rather amusing as well.
It is disappointing to see Dunst playing this part after proving herself as a fine young actress in earlier roles, most notably as the child vampire, Claudia, in Interview With the Vampire.
She held her own on screen with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt at age 12 and now, six years down the road, she's portraying mediocre characters in cheerleading movies. Too bad.
But for those out there who are eating up the plethora of teen comedies Hollywood is punching out these days, "Bring it On" is good for a laugh or two. A laugh or two that can certainly wait for video.
Acting ●○○○
Plot ●○○○
Cinematography ●○○○
Jesus' Son a waste in the heroin-movie genre
By Amy Cummins
Special to the Kansan
Jesus' Son, the latest film in the heroin movie sub-genre, is neither a well-made film nor an interesting portrayal of the early 1970s drug culture.
Jesus' Son is centered around a guy known only as F**head, an appealing ne'er-do-well played
by Billy Crudup (Inventing the Abbott, Waking the Dead). He falls in love with Michelle, played by Samantha Morton (Sweet and Lowdown, Under the Skin). Michelle seems to love F.H., yet she invites him into her heroin addiction.
The film doesn't include the Velvet Underground song, "Heroin," on which its title is
based. The song, written by Lou Reed, describes the experience of getting high: "When I'm rushing on my run/ And I feel just like Jesus' Son/ And I guess that I just don't know."
The tension and energies of the Velvet Underground song also are absent from the film. Despite the money spent on special effects, the boring hallucination
scenes (talking cotton balls, crucifixes at a drive-in) will disappoint anyone hoping for the standard drug movie gift of great visuals. The random crown-of-thorns imagery and suggestions of religious redemption are never followed through into a message more complex than a movie poster cliché.
Even the tone is inconsistent —
a mixture of slickness, faux-hipster styling and 1970s naturalism. Perhaps in a reaction against the Quentin Tarantino style, director Alison Maclean puts all the violence in context. But Jesus' Son lacks the arresting tension of a Tarantino film.
As for Jesus' Son, wait for the video, if you see it at all.
Edited by Warisa Chulindra
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continued on 6B
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