Bring It On (2000)
February 20, 2018 2:14 PM - Subscribe

 
This was on TV last night - I love this movie but hadn't seen it in years and I was surprised to see it wasn't already here on Fanfare. In light of all the great conversation about Black Panther and Black Culture/Black Excellence, I thought this was a really interesting time to talk about this movie - which in its own way, is very much about Black Excellence.

As a (white) woman, I've also always loved how seriously this movie takes young women. Yes, it's a goofy teen movie, bordering on farce, but the young women are allowed to be serious about their very femme sport, to be ambitious and to love it and be good at it, and have that be the central part of the movie.

It's also just a really, really fun movie - and one that has now been imitated a million times, and not just by the dozens of direct-to-DVD/streaming sequels.
posted by lunasol at 2:19 PM on February 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


LOOOOVE this movie, have to watch it at least once a year.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:24 PM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


This movie is definitely opening night at the Dunst Festival that I like to fantasize about hosting.
posted by silby at 3:25 PM on February 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


I love how the Clovers win instead of the Toros at the end. And Gabrielle and Kirsten are just excellent.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:10 PM on February 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


This was the best of the 90s teen comedies (the decade didn't end until 9/11). There were a bunch of terrible sequels we can ignore. For some reason Universal Pictures wants this to be some kind of National Lampoon level franchise.

The neato thing is that the black cheerleaders were put in the B plot, but they were the characters with the story arc. They were wronged and had the obstacle to overcome and won in the end.

Instead, we mostly followed the Toros, who are kind of the villains of the story. Their mascot is Satan! If this was an 80s teen movie, they'd be the rich kids across town/the lake we were supposed to hate. 90s teen movies liked to play with tropes of 80s movies. Maybe that's why 90s kids ended up being really into meta humor.
posted by riruro at 8:06 PM on February 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Missing spiritfingers tag.
posted by MoonOrb at 8:28 PM on February 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


Their mascot is Satan!

Wait, what? They're the Rancho Carne Toros. As in, bulls. Not that Satan can't appear in the form of a bovine if he wants I guess but it's not the typical symbolism.

Anyway. Love the movie, love the snappy dialogue, love the use of Bis' Detour. Love the guy who thinks he's auditioning for Pippin. It's on Netflix in the US right now, to my delight.

Buzzfeed has a list of 21 trivia bits about the movie.
posted by rewil at 10:17 PM on February 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Missing spiritfingers tag.

This egregious oversight has been addressed.
posted by lunasol at 10:24 PM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


"Bring It On" and "Pitch Perfect" is a perfect double-feature. The parallels you can see between both movies make them extra fun to watch.
posted by alchemist at 3:20 AM on February 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


I always loved that Rancho Carne High made it spell RCH on their cheer uniforms.

Also what happened to Jesse Bradford's career? He was so cute and snarky, kinda like Bring It On's Paul Rudd (NO I AM NOT SAYING HE IS PAUL RUDD-LEVEL), but he hasn't really done much since.
posted by elsietheeel at 6:48 AM on February 21, 2018


I blame Swimfan.
posted by rewil at 7:11 AM on February 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Heh, I watched this movie on a bus once and now I'm reminded to watch it properly :)
posted by Calzephyr at 9:43 AM on February 21, 2018


ah yes, this was where my eternal devotion to Gabrielle Union started.
posted by numaner at 10:19 AM on February 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


I saw this at a home viewing on my first date with my now-wife. I often describe it as one of those movies that's much better than it has any right to be.
posted by rmd1023 at 10:22 AM on February 21, 2018


They're the Rancho Carne Toros. As in, bulls. Not that Satan can't appear in the form of a bovine if he wants I guess but it's not the typical symbolism.

You're right. I must had confused it for a goat. I don't speak Spanish.
posted by riruro at 10:26 AM on February 21, 2018


Awesome! Oh Wow! Like, totally freak me out! I mean, right on!
This movie sure is number 1!
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:24 PM on February 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


I can say without hyperbole that Bring it On is the greatest movie in the history of civilization.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:54 PM on February 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


One time a friend said, "It's cold in here," and I said, "There must be some Toros in the atmosphere," and my husband, who I have never known to pay any attention at all during the dozens of times I've watched this movie, said, "Molly, I think you mean Clovers." !!!
posted by something something at 6:41 AM on February 22, 2018 [17 favorites]


You know what? "It's cold in here, there must be some _____ in the atmosphere" really doesn't make sense with the words Toros OR Clovers. There must have been some team called the Snowflakes that someone ripped off along the line.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:25 PM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


The Bring It On sequels may not have lived up to the original, but I'll always get behind the underrated Stick It.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:46 PM on February 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Oooh, Stick It! The bra straps! The strategy over deciding who's going to win! Everyone's favorite revenge movie against the gymnastic judges!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:59 PM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


I do wonder how many young people who watched this movie had seen "All That Jazz". Sparky Polastri is heavily based on Roy Scheider's performance as a fictionalized Bob Fosse, complete with the wardrobe and the pill-popping.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:42 AM on February 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Oh man, Stick It is so deliciously terrible and also good. The Busby Berkeley inspired montages, the meta-jokes about the ridiculousness of gymnastics, it's all SO GOOD.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:35 PM on February 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


One of the best movie-going experiences of my life was seeing Bring It On in the movie theater on opening night with my whole cheerleading team, in our warm-up gear, among at least 50 other cheerleading squads in the same movie theater. All ages - from pee-wee football cheerleaders to college. It was so amazing.

It is a parody of cheerleading on the same level of Best In Show as a parody of dog competitions. Silly but devastatingly accurate.
posted by elvissa at 6:53 PM on February 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Is it just me or does it seem like Nicole Bilderback had something like a 20-year run of playing teenagers?
posted by entropicamericana at 1:55 PM on February 27, 2018


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