The Story: Nick (Eric Christian Olsen) and Shawn (Nicholas D’Agosto) are popular football players well versed in seducing all the girls in their high school. As things become stale they hear of an excellent place to snag a bunch of new ladies: cheer camp. Giving up three weeks of football camp the two join the Tigers, their home squad that come in last place every year. Intent on hooking up with every girl things start out well but when Shawn falls for Tigers head cheerleader Carly (Sarah Roemer) and Nick falls for the hot cheer counselor Diora (Molly Sims) they start to realize they might have found their niche after all.
Pros: Fired up is another movie that suffers from some terrible marketing. Everyone that I’ve talked to has said the commercials make the movie look stupid which is a shame because this movie is hysterical. I myself expected this movie to be awful but found myself laughing from beginning to end. The movie has a nice 80’s teen sex comedy feel to it in the vein of something like Animal House. While not as iconic as that film it does have some amazing one-liners and some situations that I still laugh about. It’s also nice to see a movie that doesn’t get bogged down in love stories like typical teen fare. Sure Nick and Shawn find ladies they like but the movie is all about them enjoying cheerleading and becoming men in a sense. I went with my mother who usually hates cheer movies or just teenage movies in general and she found this funny as all hell which would bode well for it if it was being marketed properly. Sadly it looks like Fired Up will get lost in the shuffle but I hope you’ll go see it. The chemistry of the two leads is perfect and everyone knows their role and doesn’t try to make something they aren’t. Sit back and enjoy this as a light comedy and you’ll love it. It is PG-13 and it does push the envelope which I enjoyed. It would have benefited greatly from an R-rating but at a PG-13 this allows first time writer Freedom Jones to experiment with witty dialogue, mostly courtesy of Olsen’s character.
Cons: I mention above this movie would have been great as an R-rated teen comedy, the bloopers during the credits prove how far this film could have gone which I think would have helped it gain a larger following. R-rated comedies seem to be flourishing and this could have been a new American Pie if given the chance. I also noticed quite a few young girls in this movie, around the 12-14 range expecting a romantic comedy around cheerleading, Fired Up is not that. Sure there’s romance and cheerleading but this movie is all about the boys getting laid and finding their sensitivity so if you’re a parent with a young girl warn her ahead of time.
Acting: There’s a lot of fresh comedic talent in Fired Up and hopefully we’ll be seeing more these guys in the future. Eric Christian Olsen might look too old to be in high school but he’s perfect as the fast talking Nick. His zingers are the stuff of legend and his speech about being an orphan in the beginning made me laugh for days. He could easily become the next Jim Carrey if given the chance. On the flipside Nicholas D’Agosto is perfect as straight man Shawn. His character isn’t the most fleshed out but he’s more than able to keep up with Olsen. The supporting cast steals a lot of the scenes. Paul Blart alum Adhir Kalyan is side-splitting as Brewster. Every time he’s on-screen he’s hilarious and he almost becomes a third character. Young Juliette Goglia looks like a young Lindsay Lohan on first sight but she has the makings of a wonderful comedic actress as Shawn’s foul mouthed sister Poppy. John Michael Higgins again brings his A-game as Coach Keith. The weakest links are the love interests played by Roemer and Sims. They’re just not up to the snuff in the humor department but aren’t terrible. I also have to praise David Walton as Dr. Rick. His soundtrack of late 90’s music is a high point of the movie.
Overall: Several critics have written scathing reviews about this movie but I’m going to consider it a must-see if you love comedy. It’s got some one-liners that will be going in my book and some fine actors. I give it a 4/5.
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