Fired Up (UR)
DVD 
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Director:
Will Gluck Actors: Nicholas DAgosto Eric Christian Olsen Sarah Roemer Rating:
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WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
The school’s two star football players decide to tackle cheerleading camp (and hopefully a pile of chicks) instead of spending the summer surrounded by sausage at football camp.
IS IT A GOOD MOVIE?
The trailers for FIRED UP did absolutely nothing for me. I really thought I was gonna hate this movie, especially after watching THE HANGOVER this weekend (which lowered my tolerance for bad comedy). However, I’m surprised to say this flick was actually pretty damn funny, and a hell of a lot more fun than I expected. Now these two scored some points with me because of their football background, but I will go on record as saying there is NOTHING cool about guy cheerleaders (just ask Justin Long’s character from DODGEBALL). And on a cheerleading note, I played football for a High School of three thousand kids, and all our cheerleaders were ass ugly. I’d love to know where all these chicks were when I was going to school.
The storyline was only cool because Shawn and Nick were cool. Their friendship played a critical role in making this flick a winner, but they had lots of help from an insanely large supporting cast of hilarious characters. That’s what ultimately won me over here, the ensemble cast. I’m not saying they were known actors and actresses, I’m simply saying everyone involved was well written and stood out in their own right, making this a much thicker plot and an over all richer experience than had it been about Shawn and Nick only (and on a sidenote, Sarah Roamer is hot but this feels like a step down from DISTURBIA). This was also a pretty solid directorial debut for Will Gluck.
I liked the soundtrack, though I couldn’t help but think of all those BRING IT ON type movies, and all the ridiculous baloney that comes with them. Thankfully this flick borrowed from the good and flushed most of the bad, while at the same time sneaking in a pile of great jokes and managing to not take itself too seriously (or go painfully overboard like the god awful looking DANCE FLICK. I’ll never understand why they continue to let the Wayans brothers make movies). The unrated version boosted the content and even managed to slide in a couple exposed pompoms, which is always one of the best reasons to wait and catch these types of comedies on DVD.
FIRED UP gives us yet another dynamic duo in Shawn and Nick, who’re surprisingly much more entertaining than you’d think. Their story is nothing new, and the “whoops, I fell in love with a chick dating a complete asshat” thing has been milked more times than Lucas’s STAR WARS cash cow, but I rather enjoyed their antics and was satisfied with the happy (and blatantly obvious) ending to their semi-gay adventure (which reminds me, the gay jokes/situations are quite a hoot for both sexes). This flick won’t win best comedy or anything, but I’ve seen much worse come out this year (I’m looking at you, MISS MARCH and OBSERVE AND REPORT), so I was happy to have enjoyed this one as much as I did.
The storyline was only cool because Shawn and Nick were cool. Their friendship played a critical role in making this flick a winner, but they had lots of help from an insanely large supporting cast of hilarious characters. That’s what ultimately won me over here, the ensemble cast. I’m not saying they were known actors and actresses, I’m simply saying everyone involved was well written and stood out in their own right, making this a much thicker plot and an over all richer experience than had it been about Shawn and Nick only (and on a sidenote, Sarah Roamer is hot but this feels like a step down from DISTURBIA). This was also a pretty solid directorial debut for Will Gluck.
I liked the soundtrack, though I couldn’t help but think of all those BRING IT ON type movies, and all the ridiculous baloney that comes with them. Thankfully this flick borrowed from the good and flushed most of the bad, while at the same time sneaking in a pile of great jokes and managing to not take itself too seriously (or go painfully overboard like the god awful looking DANCE FLICK. I’ll never understand why they continue to let the Wayans brothers make movies). The unrated version boosted the content and even managed to slide in a couple exposed pompoms, which is always one of the best reasons to wait and catch these types of comedies on DVD.
FIRED UP gives us yet another dynamic duo in Shawn and Nick, who’re surprisingly much more entertaining than you’d think. Their story is nothing new, and the “whoops, I fell in love with a chick dating a complete asshat” thing has been milked more times than Lucas’s STAR WARS cash cow, but I rather enjoyed their antics and was satisfied with the happy (and blatantly obvious) ending to their semi-gay adventure (which reminds me, the gay jokes/situations are quite a hoot for both sexes). This flick won’t win best comedy or anything, but I’ve seen much worse come out this year (I’m looking at you, MISS MARCH and OBSERVE AND REPORT), so I was happy to have enjoyed this one as much as I did.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary with Director Will Gluck, Nicholas D’Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen: My favorite kind of commentaries are the ones that feature the director and the cast, especially when it comes to comedies as you know they’ll be almost as funny as the movie. This is definitely one of those situations, like PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and SEXDRIVE, pure fun all the way through.
This is Not a Cheerleading Movie: The Making of Fired Up: These two guys got paid a shit ton of money to make out with thirty different hot chicks, I guess I’d put up with three weeks of real cheerleading camp for that kind of payoff. They retrace a funny incident where each guy got sick by kissing two girls who also made out with each other. Naughty.
Double Duty: Nick and Eric explain the grueling three weeks of cheerleading bootcamp they went through to prep for the movie. The boys also had a lot of fun with the pro football team which in their words was “used to make them look good.”
Gag Reel–Uncensored Version: Lots of F-bombs mixed into a series of outtakes. The peacock shooting joke was pretty good.
Fired Up! Press Junket–Hour 12: A fake (and comical) press interview where Eric loses it when the guy refers to the flick as a “cheerleading movie.” Christian Bale eat your heart out.
Previews: We get seven trailers and a Blu ray commercial. ARMORED looks badass!
This is Not a Cheerleading Movie: The Making of Fired Up: These two guys got paid a shit ton of money to make out with thirty different hot chicks, I guess I’d put up with three weeks of real cheerleading camp for that kind of payoff. They retrace a funny incident where each guy got sick by kissing two girls who also made out with each other. Naughty.
Double Duty: Nick and Eric explain the grueling three weeks of cheerleading bootcamp they went through to prep for the movie. The boys also had a lot of fun with the pro football team which in their words was “used to make them look good.”
Gag Reel–Uncensored Version: Lots of F-bombs mixed into a series of outtakes. The peacock shooting joke was pretty good.
Fired Up! Press Junket–Hour 12: A fake (and comical) press interview where Eric loses it when the guy refers to the flick as a “cheerleading movie.” Christian Bale eat your heart out.
Previews: We get seven trailers and a Blu ray commercial. ARMORED looks badass!
FINAL DIAGNOSIS
My appreciation (and jealousy) for these guys’ clever tactics made me a fan. And with the overabundance of limp comedies flooding the industry, surprises like this one are always welcome. You don’t need to own it, but if you like to laugh, you really should watch it.
Extra Tidbit: If I were a male lead, I'd be scared as hell (careerwise) to make one of these teenish comedies, as A LOT of them are never heard from again.
Extra Tidbit: If I were a male lead, I'd be scared as hell (careerwise) to make one of these teenish comedies, as A LOT of them are never heard from again.
