Hey everyone! It's Annette Kellerman here with my review of FIRED UP! I'm sure many of you are rolling your eyes right now thinking, "great, just what I needed...another cheerleading movie." Let me assure you that FIRED UP is like no other cheerleading movie you've seen before. It's a cheerleading sex comedy that harkens back to raunchy teenage movies of yore like The Swinging Cheerleaders or Porky's. One of the best parts of this sex comedy romp, though, is that the girls are just as much in on the joke as the fellas.
The story follows two horny high school football stars that decide to ditch torturous football camp in El Paso in lieu of the babe heaven of cheerleading camp. Though they love the glory of the gridiron, their true satisfaction is found in the ladies who flock to them, so why not just cut out the hard part and go straight for the kill? With the help of a little sister who teaches them the basics and helps them weasel their way onto their high school's squad, the guys find themselves surrounded by 300 scantily clad young ladies at "Fired Up" (or FU, wink wink) cheerleading camp in no time.
My favorite scene in the entire film is the fellas initial intro to the world of camp. When the guys step off their school bus, they are met with the perfectly choreographed warm up and stretching of hundreds of gorgeous gals. As former high school cheerleaders and pom girls ourselves, Yoko and I could not contain our laughter during this sequence as director Will Gluck perfectly captures the absurdity (and/or splendor, depending on your perspective) of girls using each other's bodies to put their limberness to the test. I bet a lot of people who have no experience in the "sport" of cheerleading will think this sexually charged type of warm up is pure misogynist bullshit, but its not! We really used to do ridiculous stretching rituals with each other on a daily basis without even a hint of innuendo...I digress....
The rest of the film follows the guys as they make (out) their way through a litany of campers who are all too willing to join in the fornicating fun given their limited options with their mostly gay male comrades. Aside from living the dream though, the guys help their notoriously bad squad gain some respect and become real contenders. Though the plot is pure formula complete with obligatory love story, the jokes and one-liners throughout are what really make FIRED UP stand apart from other films in this genre. I'm gonna get a lot of flack for saying it, but I haven't belly laughed this much at the theater since Tropic Thunder. Its chock full of crude, crass, yet witty humor that really caught me by surprise.
Lead actors Nicholas D'Agosto and Eric Christian Olson master the roles of high school casanovas while truly delivering great comedic performances. Supporting roles by John Micheal Higgins as the questionably exuberant camp leader, David Walton as a perfectly douchy bad guy boyfriend, and Juliette Goglia as the all-business little sister add just the right touches that catapult FIRED UP into a universe of its own.
Though the film is no life-changing experience, FIRED UP is a lot of fun and a tons of laughs. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Annette Kellerman
