Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Bring It On

It's time for Best Shot, in which we choose a favorite single image from a film. 

This week...

BRING IT ON !

"I'm major. I roar. I swear I'm not a whore."

Damn but I didn't know how hard this week's decision would be. Sometimes you love a movie for the entire duration and it's hard to single out a scene. Bring It On is 98 minutes of uncut joy.

Today is the 10th anniversary of its release. My anniversary with it is tomorrow. I still remember my first encounter vividly. I had spent the whole day at the beach with my best friend. I was probably a little crisp and was definitely sun fatigued. We had planned to catch 'that cheerleading comedy' on our way home but I was wavering, tired. We trained back into Manhattan and hit the Union Square multiplex with our beach bags in tow. The movie was so high spirited and well executed that it was as bracing and life-affirming as jumping back into the ocean again.

To this day I'm so proud of putting it on my top ten list of 2000. [It's also on my 50 best of the decade list] Great comedies endure but they rarely get critical props during their actual run.

But best shot? That's a tough tough call. Peyton Reed is an underrated director and totally thinks about the framing, the costumes and the actors (see also: Down With Love). I really hope he gets a solid project again soon (forgive him the unfortunately blah Yes Man). I almost went with the beloved toothbrush scene. It's the single cutest and most confident romantic comedy scene of the past ten years. Call it hyperbole if you will but I stand by it. Bring It On is, as a whole, more of a sports comedy but today's sorry romcoms could learn a lot from studying any sequence here that pairs Jesse Bradford's crooked smile with Kirsten Dunst's hyper cuteness.


Reed and Jessica Bendinger, who wrote the screenplay, are also very smart about each and every character introduction. The intros are highlights throughout the movie. The pre-credit dream cheer "T-T-T-TORRANCE" is just insane comedy perfection, perfectly conveying Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) in both her joy, her pre-movie story, and her serious cheer fever. And what about the shot of Missy's (Eliza Dushku) ass entering the auditorium with dangling keys? She's about to unlock the plot. I also dig the low angle first shot of Isis (Gabrielle Union). She gets her very own halo spotlight a name check from offscreen "Isis, do your thing!" all so that you may instantly understand and worship this giantess of cheerleading.

My choice for Best Shot requires two frames with a focus shift. Missy, the new girl, is about to watch the signature Toros cheer. We see her in default hard-to-impress mode, kicking back. BAM! Torrance hair flips her way into the frame, blocking Missy's 'whatever' posturing, shouting "Ready Girls?". It's so so very funny and serves up an instant picture of both the smashingly conceived opposite-but-complimentary leading girls and of potential reactions to the movie.


You know a lot of people went into this movie just like Missy. They're all "A cheerleading movie? Puhleeze" and then, well, JOY. This movie is aggressively fun. Even if you're too cool for school, you will sign up with this team.

Ten years later, Bring it On is still the poo so take a big whiff.

"Oh, they'll bring it."
Click away for cheer fever on these participating sites!
 Other Films in This Series
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at 6:35 PM
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