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Stick It

The writer of Bring it On does it again
By TOM MEEK  |  May 3, 2006
2.5 2.5 Stars

Stick It
Stick It

Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym resembling a cute, female version of Ashton Kutcher) is a contemptuous punk-rock rebel whose extreme sports derring-do would catch the eye of Tony Hawk. Her sass-itude takes a hit, though, when a court order sends her to a gymnastics boot camp. There Haley gets into it with the catty Olympic hopefuls and their disciplinarian coach (an understated Jeff Bridges). Turns out, she was once on the fast track to the Olympics and choked; a contributing factor might have been her none too envious home life. Writer/director Jessica Bendinger, who covered such seemingly formulaic territory with Bring It On, again spins the trite into something more, infusing it with grrrl power and meaningful life lessons. The tenuous yet burgeoning bond between tarnished star and hack mentor (borrowing from Million Dollar Baby?) endears, and the colorful array (ditzy to bitchy) of balance-beam divas makes the film worth sticking out.
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