Fired Up (2009)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Will Gluck

Writer (WGA):

Freedom Jones (written by)

Release Date:

20 February 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

2 Guys. 300 Girls. You Do the Math.

Plot:

The two most popular guys in high school decide to ditch football camp for cheerleader camp. For the girls and for the glory. |

Plot Keywords:

High School | Football | Illinois | Apology | Watching TV

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Nicholas D'Agosto	...	Shawn Colfax
Eric Christian Olsen	...	Nick Brady
Sarah Roemer	...	Carly
Molly Sims	...	Diora
Danneel Harris	...	Bianca
David Walton	...	Dr. Rick
Adhir Kalyan	...	Brewster
AnnaLynne McCord	...	Gwyneth
Juliette Goglia	...	Poppy
Philip Baker Hall	...	Coach Byrnes
John Michael Higgins	...	Coach Keith
Smith Cho	...	Beth
Margo Harshman	...	Sylvia
Hayley Marie Norman	...	Angela
Jake Sandvig	...	Downey

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, partial nudity, language and some teen partying.

Runtime:

90 min | 91 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44274) | Australia:M | UK:12A | South Korea:18 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Gross Entertainment

Trivia:

Submitted to the MPAA eighteen times before it was given it's final PG-13 rating.

Goofs:

Continuity: Nick tells Shawn they are leaving cheer camp and he walks out the room, wearing jeans. when he comes back in, he changes his t-shirt but when they walk out the room, nick is wearing the whole uniform.

Quotes:

[from the trailer]
Nick Brady: What are you doing later?
Diora: Not you.

Movie Connections:

References "Project Runway" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Move to the Music

A Movie Dependent on Expectations

It seems the positive reviews are based on the fact that the reviewers were going in expecting the absolute worst. And because they didn't get the absolute worst, they are willing to give the movie a decent 5+ rating. Well, I'm not so easy. Sure the screening was free, and I expected a dreadful movie, but just because it is one notch above dreadful doesn't mean I'm giving it a 5+ rating. I'm giving it the rating I would have given it had I chose to go see and paid the $10 and given over 90 minutes of my life.

There isn't much positive to say about this movie, but what little there is I'll say first. There are a few smiles in the movie, but if you've seen the trailer you've seen 80% of them. There are some pop culture references that are mildly amusing as well, and a few moments where the movie makes fun of itself. But these moments are few and far between. Now for the bad.

The plot is beyond predictable. There is no surprises or interest or suspense. The casting is creepy/bad. When you have a 31 year old actor making moves on a 16 year old, it is disquieting. Generally the quality of acting is passable, but given the source material it is impossible to say whether these people have any real talent or not. The look of the film is low budget, and editing hurried. I don't think anyone took any pride in making this one, it's prolly a movie people did for the paycheck and the paycheck alone. The dialog 99% of the time is bad. The marketing people keep trying to tie this one to the wedding crashers, but don't be fooled. The two leads in the Wedding crashers were from a different and markedly superior comedic gene pool. And the scripts are much different in quality. Not that the Wedding Crashers was genius, but it was decent. The final thing that bugged me was the makers cutting the film for a PG-13 rating. I guess their hoping that young people will make this profitable. American Pie worked because they went for the R rating and could be edgy and push things. PG-13 means that anything except the mildest of sexual innuendo is verboten. Boring and sanitized.

So, if you're really keen on this movie, wait for the DVD. That way it'll cost less and you can fast forward. It's really not worth $10 and 90 minutes.