I am not very critical when it comes to movies. I can enjoy the fluffiest of chick flicks. And I am a huge gymnastics fan. So I really, really wanted to like Stick It. Really wanted to. I wanted to have fun watching the gymnastics. I wanted to care about the characters. I wanted the movie to explain gymnastics to the not-yet-a-fan crowd. I am sorely disappointed.

There were a few faults I would have let the film get away with. The whole sentencing a teen involved in major destruction of property to a gymnastics club - eh, whatever, gets us into the gym. The being able to do a double back dismount off of the beam after not training gymnastics at all for a year - unrealistic but so what. Being able to compete well against elite gymnasts after only one month of training after at least a year off - we'll go with it. All the gymnasts in a major elite competition conspiring to protest? The judges? For a really weak reason? (Yes, there are some rules in gymnastics scoring that don't have to do with the gymnast's actual performance. But these are not news. Gymnasts know these things well in advance and are extremely careful to follow them.)

But this is a film that was made by committee. No, I don't actually know how many people had a hand in shaping the film. But it was mushy throughout. I don't know what it was trying to accomplish. Observe:
*There were the shots obviously geared towards the young men in the audience (puh-leeze).
*There was the almost defensive "gymnasts train really hard and they are really tough and strong" *commentary* interspersed throughout. People, did you not take 7th grade English? Does the phrase "show, don't tell" ring a bell? Anyone? Plus the commentary was clunky. And defensive. Which, sure they'll take you seriously if you whine "but we work haaaard."
*There was the story of the main character and why she left gymnastics, etc. which could have been compelling, but wasn't. At all. It was not fully fleshed out enough.
*There were shots that looked as staged as a Zigfield's Follies show or the dancing spoons in Beauty and the Beast. Obviously there for the visual effect, showing off the patterns, etc. But inserted so randomly as to be confusing and not clever enough to be interesting.
*There was maybe some attempt to deal with competitive and catty nature between the gymnasts which was well beyond anything I have ever seen in a gym. And I spent many years in gyms.
*There were hints of the parental pressure that some gymnasts have, slighter hints of pressure from coaches - but none of it really dealt with in any meaningful way.

They even managed to mess with the gymnastics. The cuts from the actors to their gymnast/stunt doubles were ridiculously obvious. Huge skills were given landings that clearly did not match. Instead of just showing a rountine all the way through, or even parts of a routine in a straightforward way, they did silly special effects. I mean, hello, you have Nastia Liukin there. She pretty much does her bar routine perfectly every. single. time. No need for multiple takes even. And yet. They somehow made the routine look choppy.

More ranting later. Maybe. Unless I run out of steam by then.