Stick It
Published April 28, 2010
Film info
- Title Stick It
- Director Jessica Bendinger
- Year 2006
- Run time 1hr 43m
- Genres Drama, Comedy
- Tagline The world of competitive gymnastics is about to be turned on its head
Sporting drama. Haley Graham is a former gymnast-turned-juvenile delinquent who, after one too many run-ins with the law, is forced to enrol at an elite gymnastics academy, the VGA in Houston, Texas, run by the legendary Olympic gymnast Burt Vickerman. But the rebellious Haley is not welcomed into the academy by the other teenage gymnasts who despise her for walking out on her Junior Olympic team years earlier during a competition that cost them the gold medal. Haley is not a docile person herself, and makes every effort to provoke conflicts with the other girls. Vickerman takes it upon himself to coach Haley in his own way to make her regain her self respect for the VGA's coming spot on the Gymnastic Nationals.
Live Blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 0:56 | Ooh, very funky titles. |
| 2:43 | I think I would not be good at BMX or skateboarding because I’d want to be good without going through all the falling off in practice. |
| 4:33 | You can crash through a closed window but open the door then the alarm goes off. |
| 7:30 | Wow. I never thought of graffiti-ing the furniture in my room when I was a kid. |
| 10:56 | I secretly quite like her attitude. |
| 16:39 | I find choreographed hard to say too. |
| 18:31 | Do gymnasts really have to drill train like that? I suppose they have to be all kinds of fit. |
| 20:o8 | I like the idea of a To Don’t list. |
| 24:59 | This could be the corniest film ever, but I like it. |
| 28:07 | How did they find out where she was? She said juvi. |
| 30:45 | They’re all just going to hate her more since she’s been out for ages and is suddenly really good again. |
| 35:49 | Can you compare gymnastics to Navy Seals? Really? |
| 42:57 | Are these girls gymnasts or actresses? Or both? I get that it’s easy to use body doubles but I’m not sure they always are. |
| 51:06 | The gym version of a stage mum. |
| 1:00:52 | What’s a layout? The somersault? |
| 1:03:35 | I don’t want to be all literal about it, but what department store in the world would allow people to try on posh dresses and start doing somersaults in them? |
| 1:12:48 | That’s actual Nastia Liukin. Doing actual gymnastics. |
| 1:20:26 | They call it scratching. I have never heard of this. Presumably no relation to pork… |
| 1:24:38 | I can’t believe the crowd would stay for that nonsense. It’s all very well for the girls to be taking marking into their own hands but the spectators just get one performance per apparatus. Not great. |
| 1:26:33 | Is it possible to do the caterpillar thing on a beam? |
Thoughts
This film appeared on the BBC iPlayer and I immediately knew it wasn’t really one to be taken seriously, and wasn’t one that would gain me a lot of street cred. But I like gymnastics, so I wanted to give it a chance.
So, yeah, it was pretty cringeworthy but I also kinda liked it. There’s something about it being so unashamedly about gymnastics that I like. It’s not pretending to be smart or clever, it’s just something colourful, bright and pretty (and flexible!) to watch for an hour or so.
Rating: 3 / 5