Stellar Kirsten Dunst, as cheerleading captain Torrance Shipman, leads six-time defending cheerleading champions the Toros against a talented inner-city squad, the East Compton Clovers, in BRING IT ON. The film presents a lighthearted, slightly quirky exploration of the cutthroat but perky world of professional cheerleading competitions. Only days after taking over the reins of her hallowed suburban high school squad, Torrance is presented with the ugly truth about her team's success when a new recruit, Missy (Eliza Dushku), a semi-outcast gymnast, realizes that the Toros' cheer was stolen from another team. Missy takes Torrance to inner-city L.A. to see the same routine being performed by the East Compton Clovers. The Clovers throw down the gauntlet; they are going to challenge the Toros for the national championship on ESPN 2. As if having to find new cheers were not enough trouble, Torrance also has romantic decisions to make: She has to choose between her oily but pretty current boyfriend and Missy's less popular but rocking brother, Cliff (Jesse Bradford). BRING IT ON melds a hint of the satire in such movies as SMILE and DROP DEAD GORGEOUS with the competitive fire of films such as THE KARATE KID and WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP to provide a captivating story enhanced by the engaging performance of rising star Dunst.
Kirsten Dunst swaps the cut-throat world of beauty pageants (Drop Dead Gorgeous) for the equally competitive arena of high-school cheerleading in this comedy. Torrance Shipman (Dunst) takes over as leader of a crack San Diego high-school squad whose prowess is in stark contrast to the shambolic football team they support. Things don't go smoothly, culminating in the discovery that their winning routine was actually stolen from a rival squad. Dunst decides to break the rules by hiring a professional choreographer to put together a new routine. Will her plan succeed? Billed as Rocky with pom-poms, Peyton Reed's film could do with the sharp satirical edge of, say, Election. Instead, it ends up a too-straightforward chronicle of a somewhat parochial pastime.
Entertainment Weekly
"...It's [Dunst's] mixture of delicacy and vivacity that holds the picture together....Of the moment..."
Halliwell's Film Guide
Pleasant teen comedy that fortunately doesn't take its subject-matter too seriously.
Radio Times
