I WONDER IF the Communist Party still organises those summer retreats, during which teenagers were carted off to remote dormitories and force-fed propaganda about dialectical materialism and the moral corruption of the West. If so, they might like to schedule a few screenings of this buttock- clenchingly appalling teen comedy for Saturday night downtime.
It's not just that Fired Upis badly made (though it is that). It's not just that the actors seem lobotomised (though they do). It's more than that. Fired Uppaints such an unappealing picture of its chosen domain – a training camp for cheerleaders – that it actually makes you feel somewhat unenthusiastic about the continued existence of capitalism.
The bucket of spew that passes for a plot has two young football players eschewing summer training for the lawns and gyms of a facility that instructs young ladies how to form human pyramids and make songs from sporting acronyms. What are the guys really here for? Give me a “B”! Give me an “A”! And so on until you spell “BABES!”
Well, you’ve seen garbage like this before (though not quite like this, I assure you) and, As expected, the chaps soon learn to be a little less lascivious and a little more limber. As the credits loom, they have begun treating both cheerleading and ladies with degrees of respect.
If Fired Up were a little better, then one might feel more able to tolerate the sexual objectification and misogyny that are woven into the business of cheerleading. Stuck in front of tone-deaf, charmless performances from Nicholas D’Agosto (fake Jason Biggs) and Eric Christian Olsen (own-brand Jim Carrey), most sensible viewers will, however, find their eyes searching angrily for the nearest barricade. Viva la Revolución!
Directed by Will Gluck. Starring Nicholas D'Agosto Eric Christian Olsen, Sarah Roemer, Molly Sims, Danneel Harris. 15a cert Gen release, 91 mins
