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Avg. Critic Score: 53 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
12 Iffy for 12+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    The New York Times |

    A spry teenage comedy that gets everything right, Stick It takes the usual batch of underdogs, dirt bags, mean girls and bimbos and sends them somersaulting through happy clichs and unexpected invention. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    Much of the honest dialogue has the same feel as John Hughes' and Cameron Crowe's movies during their best years, while there's a half-serious hipness that recalls the first eight episodes of "The O.C." Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Scott Brown

    A deliriously, defiantly unfocused headrush, Stick It is primarily an exercise in exercise. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    Spends an inordinate amount of time ogling the tight, lithe bodies of its young female characters. Thus, what might have appealed only to teen girls might well have crossover appeal to leering young boys as well. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    Peregrym is like a secondhand Hilary Swank. She has a looser presence and might be a better actor, but since we already have Swank, finding out is not a priority. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Stick It uses the story of a gymnast's comeback attempt as a backdrop for overwrought visual effects, music videos, sitcom dialogue and general pandering. The movie seems to fear that if it pauses long enough to actually be about gymnastics, the audience will grow restless. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Robert Koehler

    Bridges gives the movie its only genuine pulse as a gym coach known for his hard and manipulative ways. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Bridges actually does a fine job in an uninteresting role. But this chick flick is all about the attitudinal teenagers. Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Crust

    The film strives for some type of a girl-empowerment message that equates trading one type of conformity for another with self-determination but muffs the dismount and stumbles on the landing. In other words, it fails to Stick It. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    Instead of gold-medal-winning, last-minute heroics, the movie weirdly becomes about the scandal of arbitrary gymnastics judges. Is it a movie or an episode of "Real Sports"? It veers into fresh territory but not dramatically satisfying territory. Read full review

View more reviews for Stick It on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 12+ Gymnasts fall short -- it's no Bring It On.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that the film includes some mild language, including adolescent girls talking back to adults (coaches and parents), as well as mouthing off to one another ("crap," piss," bitch," s-word, for examples). Movie opens with a girl on a bike crashing through a house window, which leads to her arrest (sirens, handcuffs). The film explores some mature themes in mostly satirical manner: lying, cheating, career-ending injury, jealousy, holding grudges, divorce, and rebellious teens. The movie features several close-up shots of gymnasts' bottoms, some scenes where gymnasts are injured (for example, a girl falls off a beam, writhes in pain, and the coach disdains her, creating a "comic" moment). Characters discuss a painful moment from the past when a girl learned her mother was sleeping with her coach, divorced parents fight. Adults at a party appear drunk.
  • Families can talk about "teenage rebellion": How can this typical situation be a healthy experience, offering opportunities for kids and adults to learn from each other? How does Haley's anger at her parents initially block her ability to work with her teammates and coach? How might gymnastics, which involves judges' subjective assessments, be changed to make it fairer for competitors?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Competition drives adults to behave unfairly; coaches cheat clients for money; coaches sleep with parents; judges adhere to archaic rules; girls are cruel to one another; and in the end, girls teach adults lessons in creativity and working together.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Film starts with bike/rider crashing through window, then picked up by cops for vandalism; some gymnastics tricks lead to falls and injuries (a couple of these treated as comedy).
  • sex false0 Sex: Some shots of gymnast's mother's cleavage; close-ups of gymnasts' bottoms; discussion of a coach's affair with Haley's mother; mention of "boobs" (as in, what the gymnasts don't have); girls show bra straps at a competition to challenge rule that they can't; team member develops crush on a boy (chaste flirtation); boys wear gowns at department store during "at-the-mall" montage.
  • language false3 Language: References to (and acts of) farting; a couple of s-words and other minor curses; assorted colorful phrases and malapropisms.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Product names on display at competitions include Motorola, Yahoo, Luna, Energizer, Neutrogena, Nexcare; t-shirts feature brand names (Orange Crush) and band names (Bad Brains, Motorhead, Black Flag, etc.).
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drunk coaches and judges at a post-competition party, drinks ordered at the bar.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dave White

4.0

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… refreshingly rebellious … Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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