Get Your Reps In: “Bring It On” Still Rules the “Cheerocracy”

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Bring It On Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford, Nathan West, Gabrielle Union (Courtesy of IMDB)
By Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Bring It On (2000)

Twenty-four years ago, Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) let us know there’s only one ruler in a “cheerocracy,” and Bring It On has never abdicated its power.

The paradigmatic cheerleading comedy plays at Hollywood Theatre as part of the Isn’t She Great series co-programmed by Elizabeth Teets and Anthony Hudson. Seattle standup comedian Zahnae Aquino will perform before the screening.

Amid all its convincing choreography and tossing bodies 20 feet into the air, Bring It On rides the line between satire and teenage dramedy. That’s a disastrous liminal space if handled carelessly.

Right alongside jokes about the invention of “Diet Prozac,” director Peyton Reed (Down With Love, Ant-Man) makes good by weaving in an anti-cultural appropriation narrative.

As good as Dunst is as a post-Clueless popular girl who’s both the likable protagonist and the butt of the joke, Gabrielle Union shows up as if from a different sports movie altogether, playing a rival cheer captain with the skills of a born leader. Like the film itself, she’s a worthy ruler for any cheerocracy. Hollywood, March 23.

ALSO PLAYING:

5th Avenue: Thelma & Louise (1991), March 22-24. Academy: Ms .45 (1981), March 21. Citizen Kane (1941), March 21. Cinema 21: Trouble in Paradise (1932), March 23. Cinemagic: Reservoir Dogs (1992), March 22-23. Pulp Fiction (1994), March 22-23. Band of Outsiders (1964), March 23 and 28. Inglourious Basterds (2009), March 24-25. The Dirty Dozen (1967), March 24. First Blood (1982), March 26. City on Fire (1987), March 27. Clinton: The Breakfast Club (1985), March 23. Tank Girl (1995), March 23. Coffy (1973), March 26. Hollywood: Female Trouble (1974), March 21. 7th Heaven (1927), March 23. The Dungeonmaster (1984), March 23. Under the Skin (2013), March 25. The Deadly Spawn (1983), March 26. Tomorrow: Valley Girl (1983), March 23. Heathers (1988; with bingo!), March 24.

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