Fired Up!

This genre of movies is often dismissively referred to as "the moronic teen comedy".  "Fired Up!" successively gives credence to that distinction.  Starring Nicholas D'Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen as two horny high-schoolers whose mission is to bag as many babes as humanly possible, the two main characters, Shawn and Nick, are about as flat and stereotypical as they come.  Now that the womanizing duo have finished ravaging all the ladies of the 3000+ student body at their school, Shawn and Nick devise a ludicrous plan to gain access to fresh meat: become male cheerleaders to attend a summer cheer camp.  The more incredulous part is how the audience is supposed to buy these two dimwits of brainwashing all these pretty young things into falling for them.  The pair are mildly cute but in no way irresistible, and their romantic shtick is so cloying and tiresome that it seemed like a miracle to me that they ever got laid in the first place.  The only real laughs in the film come when Shawn and Nick are bantering with each other, and if anything the best friends are so good together that they seem more of a match made in heaven than with any of the girls they pursue.  The only redeeming quality is Olsen, who - with his blond surfer-boy, slightly goofy looks and amusing obnoxiousness - tries so hard to be funny that you can't help but laugh at his efforts.  In the end, though, there is nothing left to sustain interest in the story besides recycled sight gags and gratuitous boob shots.  "Fired Up!" is like a weak cross between "Bring It On" and the "American Pie" movies, but makes both of those franchises look like Shakespearean comedy.


2 out of 5 stars