"Stick It" Falls Flat

Screenwriter Jessica Bendinger tries her hand at directing in "Stick It," which attempts to transfer the same spirit that Bendinger created in the cheerleader comedy "Bring it On" to the world of competitive gymnastics. The biggest name in the cast is Jeff Bridges, who isn't exactly teenage fare, but he does his best in this fatherly-type role. Whatever skills Bendinger possessed when she wrote "Bring it On" have completely vanished.

The script for "Stick It" is a sloppy mess of teenage jibe and fake posturing that seems to end in the middle and then start up again as a whole new movie. As a first-time director, Bendinger relies on far too many camera tricks and a strange sense of staging that is not flattering. Actress Missy Peregrym, a relative unknown except for fans of "Smallville", has an eerie resemblance to a young Hillary Swank, plays a rebellious teenage girl who walked away from the World Championships costing her teammates a shot at Olympic Gold in gymnastics. Marked as a pariah in the world of gymnastics,

Peregrym wants nothing to do with the sport and does her best to play down her abilities. It's possible the character as written was such a stereotype that Peregrym had little to work with as an actress. Peregrym doesn't add any breadth to the character. Bendinger's biggest mistake in the execution of this movie is a lack of character development.