A new movie star arrives ready to go in “Stick It,” an otherwise forgettable if likably hang-loose chick flick.
The star has the rather unlikely moniker Missy Peregrym, a young Canadian actress who has been encouraged to play the bad-girl thing to the hilt. If this isn’t quite a breakthrough on the level of Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman,” it’s at least Julia Roberts in “Mystic Pizza.”
Peregrym plays Haley, a world-class gymnast who short-circuited her career by walking off the floor during a major event. Now in trouble with the law, she’s being sent back to a gymnastics school as part of her legal settlement.
I don’t know how common this is in the annals of crime and punishment, but the movie skips along as though all is normal. Naturally Haley hates working out, hates her bossy coach (Jeff Bridges), and hates her fellow gymnasts, who return the love.
Just as naturally, Bridges won’t take her guff, challenges her to push herself, and gets her back in a training regimen. I wonder how all this will turn out?
Actually, writer-director Jessica Bendinger has a few surprises up her sleeve, even if the climactic act of rebellion in the film (which suddenly turns into a diatribe about the unfair and outmoded system of judging gymnastics) is more than a little unbelievable.
Believability doesn’t seem the point. Bendinger wrote the surprisingly fun “Bring it On,” and the point here is girls being cheeky and goofy. There are a couple of guys around: John Patrick Amedori and Kellan Lutz, both amusing, but second fiddle.
The other girls at the gym include princess-y Vanessa Lengies and spunky-cute Nikki SooHoo. At times Bendinger seems to let her camera run a few seconds longer than necessary, just to catch their impish expressions and forgivable mugging.
| Likeable: Rebellious girl is sent to a gymnastics academy, where coach Jeff Bridges will surely straighten her out. This film is likable hang-loose, and it introduces a new star in Missy Peregrym.
Rated: PG-13 rating is for subject matter Now showing: tkon |
Jeff Bridges brings a touch of class to this project, although his interest in it is puzzling. Maybe he thought it was time to do the inspirational coach role, as so many other actors of a certain age have. (One thinks fondly of his father, Lloyd, as a demented personal trainer on “Seinfeld,” but that’s probably just a coincidence.)
Bridges’ character runs a gym that appears to be a multimillion-dollar facility, garishly painted in red and white. Part of the film’s joke is that he routinely promises parents that their little girls are destined for the Olympics. That might explain the gymnasium, but it still seems over the top.
So, there’s Missy Peregrym, a strapping lass with a strong resemblance to Hilary Swank and a similarly pumped-up body. Bendinger encourages her to act up, resulting in an antic performance that steers closer to Jim Carrey than Hilary Swank. But there’s no doubt about Peregrym’s confident presence or ripped physique, and that should keep her working for the next few years.
Vanessa Lengies (left), Maddy Curley, Nikki Soohoo and Missy Peregrym in “Stick It.”
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