Fired Up! Movie Review

From the advertisements, Fired Up! looks like the movie that finally indulges in what every young man fantasizes about: Crashing cheerleading camp to get laid. On the poster, the tagline reads: "Two guys. 300 girls. You do the math." With those numbers, lots of guys would look past those annoying cheers and be the first in line at the movie theater with their dates.

Unfortunately, Fired Up! isn't the movie it says it is. It's rated PG-13, and beyond a few shots of young ladies in cheer outfits, there's nothing remotely objectionable here. That would be fine if it were a family film. But it's being marketed as a sexy teen comedy.

That's not to say that high school football stars Shawn (Nicholas D'Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen) don't get any action while crashing cheer camp, just that it all happens off-screen. Since there are only four straight guys at the camp, plenty of ladies are itching to meet them. They really don't have an interest in cheerleading. In fact, they only plan on staying at camp for two of the three weeks. But after they learn the cheer routines and competitive nature of the sport, they find themselves hooked.

Thank God, because their school's cheerleading squad sucks. Gerald R. Ford High School has placed last in the final competition every year. They've never had guys on the team, though, and are finding the extra muscle a welcome addition. Then, something strange happens. They guys grow a conscience. Shawn falls in love with the cheer captain, Carly (Sarah Roemer), and Nick develops a crush on one of the coaches. Of course, neither is single, and Carly is dating a sleazeball. Ah, the angst of teen cheer camp.

Nicholas D'Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen are supposed to portray the biggest jocks in school, but they don't fit the bill. One looks like a theatre geek and the other a science dork; neither has much sex appeal. As a comedy team, they are awkward and cumbersome, and unable to carry the movie on their shoulders. While they do have charisma from time to time, both overact to a nuclear degree.

Fired Up! promises guilty pleasure, but has the edge of a bowling ball. It doesn't bring anything new or engaging to the genre, just playing connect-the-dots with a standard formula which wasn't very interesting to begin with. It doesn't take any risks, which is ironic since "you have to risk it to get the biscuit," is the movie's self-proclaimed message. Apparently, Fired Up! just wasn't very hungry.

You gotta bare it to share it.