Fired Up!
DIR: Will Gluck • WRI: Freedom Jones • PRO Matthew Gross, Peter Jaysen, Charles Weinstock • DOP: Thomas E. Ackerman • ED: Tracey Wadmore-Smith • DES: Marcia Hinds • CAST: Sarah Roemer, Nicholas D’Agosto, Molly Sims, Eric Christian Olsen
Fired Up!, or FU! to use its clever abbreviation, is one of those cinematic experiences that leaves one scratching one’s head thinking, ‘what the hell was the point of that?’ What can the motivation for such rubbish really be? It is the tall tale of high-school jocks Shawn (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen – or is that Gavin Lambe-Murphy?) that quit summer football camp in favour of something altogether more camp for two such testosterone-fuelled young studs: cheerleading camp. Enough camp already. In search of action that does not involve being screamed at by hoary old Coach Byrnes (Philip Baker Hall), this wacky pair are willing to risk their hard won kudos as football heroes in the face of suspicion from pretty much all parties concerned. Predictable hi-jinks, and an even more predictable romance, ensue.
To think that someone woke up one day and thought, ‘this is a good idea’ beggars belief. It is to comedy what the Big Mac is to fine dining – limp, processed, cheesy and nowhere near as much fun as they make out on the poster. The most interesting thing about it is its brazen propaganda in peddling the American dream. With every high-school cliché on view: jocks, quarter-backs, cheerleaders, fun times, American suburbia and all the glossy but soulless luxuries that go with it, these guys are the infantry of the marketing department for the War on Terror. It’s enough to make George Bush bristle with pride.
Dr Rick (David Walton) does some provide some genuine laughs as the love-rat boyfriend of cheerleader Carly (Sarah Roemer), probably because an over-baked idiot is always much funnier than an over-baked ‘cool dude’. However, it is nowhere near enough to rescue this nonsense. A waste of time.
Shane Kennedy
(See biog here)
Rated 15a
Fired Up! is released on 10th July 2009
Fired Up! – Official Website
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