Stick It

This is a movie I SHOULD have hated. It fits into several genres I normally can't stand. It's a teen movie (hate them), it's a sports movie (hate them), it's a formulaic troubled teen makes good with help of mentor movie (you get the idea). It came on cable one day and I ended up sticking with it-I'm glad I did. Instead of hating it, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. It's definitely formulaic, but so are 95% of the movies out there, anyway. They just pull off the formula very well. Gymnastics is something I have a great deal of respect for (unlike figure skaters, sorry), those people are hardcore athletes. The scenes involving the actual gymnastics, whether in competition or practice, are filmed quite creatively. The actors are cast well, also, especially the lead. She looks so...all-American, for lack of a better description, and can actually act. I'm not a teenager, BTW, so I would imagine teens would enjoy this even more.

Quibbles? The music. It's not my taste (except for blink 182). Other than that, for this type of movie, they did a good job. This isn't supposed to be Taxi Driver or Fargo-just a relatively light, feel-good movie that hits the target it was aiming for.