I HAVE TO SAY…

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Below is an abridged version of the podcast episode. Thanks for reading!

Today, I have to say…the first Bring It On movie is the best Bring It On movie.

I think the first Bring It On is the best one, but let’s compare them side by side and see which one really is the best (and the worst) based on the themes that they all share and the overall plot of the movie.

I’ll be ranking them based on the plot of the movie and the stories they tell, how cheerleading is shown and utilized, the romance in the movies, the rivalries in the movies, and then I’ll have a bonus round, ranking the friendships based on if I think they’d survive past high school.

So, thank you for joining me. Thank you for being here. And let’s get started.

Story Ranking

When I say that I’m rating based on the story, I’m thinking about the overall plot, the portrayal of it, and if it still holds up.

Bring It On (2000)

The first Bring it On movie was ahead of its time.

In the first Bring it On, Torrance’s cheer squad, The Toros, have been stealing cheers from Isis’s squad, The Clovers, for some time, and they’ve been winning championship titles from those stolen cheers. Since Torrance is the new cheer captain, she only finds out when Missy joins her team.

There’s also an added layer because The Toros’s squad is made up of white people and The Clovers squad is made up of Black people and whether it was intentional or not, the movie can be a reflection of race relations in real life, even to this day.

Watching it now, the movie hits different than it did when I was younger. And as a Black woman, it hit a little too close to home. We see The Clovers ideas being rewarded without any credit given to them. We see that even after Torrance knows the truth, it took public embarrassment at a football game to solidify that she was wrong in stealing cheers and that they needed to get knew cheers. And we see The Clovers stand up for themselves and push through, while having to push aside the fact that they had been wronged in the first.

Who knew a 2000s classic could provide insightful commentary about cultural appropriation and whitewashing?

I think that the story in Bring it On was told well. The only part I would change is that The Clovers didn’t end up taking the money that Torrance offered. And I get why, and it wouldn’t have fixed what The Toros did, like more work still would’ve needed to be done on the Toros side, but I’m still disappointed they didn’t take the money because we’re pro-reparations over here. 

So for the story and the plot, I’m giving this movie a 4.7/5.

Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)

Bring It On: All Or Nothing’s plot is a trope that has been done before and on the surface, the movie is fun.  Britney is a fish out of water who learns how to adapt in her new environment and Camille being unamused and unimpressed with her as she remains clueless.

Underneath the surface though and you don’t really have to dig deep to find it, there’s some stereotypes that are hard to ignore. 

Kirreshia’s character, played by Giovanni Samuels, is supposed to be fat and she’s used as the butt of the joke in some subtle ways and her characterization is a little crazy, but it’s even crazier watching it now and seeing she’s not big in the first place. Her character is always holding and eating candy, and this would all be fine if we lived in a vacuum and if the actor herself didn’t talk about how it messed with her body image a few years ago.

She wasn’t even fat, but we deserve fat representation that isn’t rooted in mockery. And unfortunately, it is that deep. 

There’s also some racial stereotypes, like Britney trying to assimilate into her Black and her brown environment at school and it’s just so cringey…to the point that it’s kind of funny. I got secondhand embarrassment watching it.

So, for the story, I’ll give it a 3 out of 5 stars. 

Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007)

Out of all the movies, I genuinely think In It to Win It is the most unserious and campy with how the story is told. It’s about east and west coast rivals Brooke and Carson who attend the same cheer camp. Carson’s team always loses to Brooke’s team and she’s determined this will be the first time they win, except both teams are forced to forfeit when a cheer off between the two ends in injuries. The cheer off gave real Cats vibes, the musical, and I mean that in a bad way. It was so unserious and I didn’t even know how to react while I was watching it.

But after that, they combine teams and they work together and things work out.

In this one there’s also a stereotype that’s so hard to ignore with the portrayal of their only Black character. It hurt to see honestly. And maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never met a Black woman willingly call herself an Oreo and be serious about it. Like I don’t know why they would put that in the movie.

And when I was younger it was funny when that guy revealed that he actually wasn’t gay. When I’m older and saw that he revealed that he wasn’t actually gay, I was like, “Okay this doesn’t sound good.” Like this is not actually cute and quirky, this is not okay.

 I love the idea of the two teams working together, but as a whole the movie could’ve been better.

I’m going to give it a 2 and half stars out of 5 stars.

***And to be honest the half is a bonus because they showed the outcome of a spirit stick curse which no other movie has done. But…yeah…I don’t know about that movie.

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)

Fight to the Finish is underrated, I think, but plotwise it’s the opposite of All or Nothing. Instead of a white girl being the fish out of water, it’s Lina, who is Latina. Lina moves schools to a rich white area, but unlike Britney, she doesn’t shy away from being herself. There are two cheer teams on campus, and she helps the one her step-sister is apart of to strengthen their skills and make more of an impact on school so that they’ll have a chance at winning the championship.

This movie also has some racist lines in there too, like one of the antagonists literally refers to her as Dora…as in the explorer which was crazy to hear. There’s also stereotyping of cholos, who I’m pretty sure were played by white people, maybe not all of them, but I’m pretty sure one of them was white, on top of the stereotyping, so it’s…definitely a problematic movie. 

But I’m going to give it a 3 out of 5 stars as well. 

Cheerleading

For the cheerleading of the movie , I’m basing this on how memorable the performances were, the amount of actual cheerleading or cheers in the movie, and how cool the tricks look as someone who isn’t a cheerleader.

Bring It On (2000)

So the cheerleading in the first movie was impressive. Sometimes you watch movies with dancing and the moves look basic, especially when you rewatch them back after loving it when you’re younger, but I didn’t feel like that with Bring It On. There were some tricks throughout each performance that I found impressive.

We saw cheers during the football games and the cheerleading as a whole brought some iconic scenes like the whole “PREPARE FOR TOTAL DOMINATION, DOMINATION, DOMINATION” scene.  I still know all the words to the opening cheer, and I still think about, “Think you can steal our bit, but you look like shit. Cause we’re the ones that are down with it.”

The whole audition sequence is still so funny to me and it was cool that we got a scene of Missy and Torrance practicing together away from everyone else, cause it made it feel like cheerleading was really a part of their lives. 

So because the cheerleading was believable and memorable, I’ll give it a 5 out of 5.

Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)

Hayden Patinerre crumping in All or Nothing is still hilarious to this day. And it’s everyone hyping her up for me like what she was doing was so cool, but also the tension when Britney’s romantic interest crumps on her? Chills. 

Some of the cheerleading and the cheers were cringey…and they felt racist…I don’t know if Britney doing the  sha boo ya at her old school’s prom was racist but it felt racist and I got second hand embarrassment watching it, even though it’s funny to show to other people just to see the reaction on their face. If you don’t remember, please go look it up. It’s when she’s with her old teammates at prom. It’s near the end of the movie.

There’s also some cool tricks that were happening in this movie too, but it is less than the first one.

Cheerleading was present, but it felt more like a subplot and the focus of it was everyone’s dynamics. And cheerleading just felt like an avenue to talk about how people’s relationships were changing.

So, I’m going to give cheerleading a 3 out of 5.

Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007)

There are actual cheer offs in In It to Win It. There was the beach scene, on the mat at cheer camp, and in the alley way before the teams combine. And then after they combine, we watch them come up with a way to merge their teams’ styles together. 

The ending move they decide on is one part of the movie that I always remember, just because they were looking at a roller coaster and found inspiration. I just think…as much as I don’t really like that movie, I just think that part is kinda cool cause creative people can find inspiration anywhere type energy.

But, I’m gonna give the cheerleading a 4 out of 5.

Even though a lot of it is so campy and ridiculous a little bit, there’s a lot of cheer offs that happen, especially compared to the other ones. And the cheerleading was front and center in this movie with some cool tricks happening in the performances.

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)

Fight To the Finish had a cheer off in the beginning as a part of the dream sequence. There’s also a scene where Lina’s squad messes up and gets pushed out by the other squad who outperforms them. This movie also had some of the lead characters in the air, like I remember seeing Lina and Sky, who is played by that girl from One Tree Hill. Not One Tree Hill, the girl who played in Teen Wolf, Holland Rolland in the air too. I don’t know if they were doing their own stunts or not, but a lot of the other movies don’t have the lead characters doing tricks, understandably. Um, but it was cool to see that they were actually a part of, like, being in the air. Besides that nothing really sticks out to me in their cheer moves,

so I’m going to give this a 3.5 out of 5.

Romance

With romance I always ask myself, is there chemistry, do I believe in their feelings, and am I rooting for them?

Bring It On (2000)

I loved the romance in Bring It On between Torrance and Cliff. I loved their flirty vibe and the banter in class at the car wash, the glances at the football game. I was eating it up. Love the best friend’s brother vibe and it was so funny when she uh, showed up to Missy’s house and he was there. Torrance and Cliff brushing their teeth together and then them sitting on the swings later. Still so cute and I love it.

The song Cliff wrote for her is a banger. She had an appropriate reaction jumping on her bed.

And honestly, who cares that Torrance had a boyfriend. I mean I get why Cliff does, he was valid, but Aaron was not a good boyfriend, literally selling her out to her teammates and also cheating on her, so I’m not even mad about how that played it out and she made it right in the end.

I’m not gonna lie though, the way that Aaron says “I got the door Tor,” is a vocal stim for me. 

 But yeah, I’m rating this romance 5 out of 5.

It was believable and I was rooting for them and I hope nobody is surprised by that rating.

Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)

 In All Or Nothing, Britney’s original boyfriend is Brad, a stereotypical football player who talks about sex and is a misogynist. 

Jesse and Britney meet during school and she later finds out he’s a cheerleader. They have moments throughout the movie and you can see that there’s something there. I know I talked about it already, but the tension in the crumping scene in All or Nothing? Perfection. 

They share a kiss and there’s some drama when Jesse finds out that she has a boyfriend, and it comes out in the worst way. Them making up was funny cause they’re looking at Camille and everyone else like mind your business, but it was cute how she made it up to him and how she won him back and it worked for me.

I give it a 5 out of 5 because they were cute and I believed in their feelings.

Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007)

In It to Win It Carson and Penn meet and have a great night before realizing that they’re on opposite sides. It was giving Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, except they really could’ve just said fuck it and been together anyway cause this was such a low stakes situation.

But Carson did betray Penn’s trust, and she used something he said in confidence against him, so I understand why he was upset, but of course over time they make it work.

They had some cute moments, but right now I can’t remember anything they did or said that stood out to me, and because of that,

I’m going to give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

The chemistry wasn’t there for me, personally, even though they had some sweet moments together, but they could’ve gotten together or not and it wouldn’t have mattered much to me.

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)

In Fight to The Finish, Evan is a basketball player and the brother of Lina’s rival. They express interest in each other earlier on and I think that they have chemistry, but watching back that ‘I like you speech?” That was so cringey.

He’s says, “I like you Lina. I like that you’re stubborn and competitive because you’re talented. And that you’re insanely beautiful klutz.” *laughing* like, what..are you trying to compliment her? Where is this going? 

But even with the chemistry, none of the scenes have stuck with me, and that scene alone…terrible, so

I’m gonna give the romance a 2 out of 5.

Rivalries

When it comes to the rivalries, i’m going to be ranking it based on if I think the rivalry was valid and if their get backs landed for me.

Bring It On (2000)

For Bring It On the stealing of cheers makes the rivalry between The Clovers and The Toros real. Of course you’d have beef with a team crediting off of your work, who wouldn’t? The way the Clovers didn’t back down and made it clear what they wouldn’t tolerate anymore was satisfying and the way they went about it was also amusing. The football game scene I talked about earlier where the ladies of The Clovers showed up and left with everyone, including fans, voting for the Toros to change their cheers is engraved in my brain. That and “You’ve been blessed by an angel girl.”

 The reason why the rivalry existed was clear and the way that everyone acted in response made sense,

so I’m gonna give it a 5 out of 5 stars.

Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)

There are sort of two rivalries going on in All or Nothing. First Britney and Camille had a rivalry because Britney came in calling Camille’s bag fake and then later Britney tried to change some of the cheers that happened. But, they end up working out and getting along and understanding each other.

The second rivalry is between Britney and her old teammate. Winnie basically just wanted her life, to be honest. She wanted to be the cheer captain, she wanted her boyfriend, and once Britney left, it gave her the opportunity to swoop in on all of those things. Winnie was a terrible person, like it showed throughout the movie that she’s not really kind or considerate of other people and she’s selfish and she doesn’t really believe in girl code I guess.

I feel like their rivalry was lowkey one sided. Like Winnie felt like she was in rivalry with Britney, but Britney didn’t reciprocate those feelings ‘cause she didn’t care that much about Winnie in the first place. So, like she respected her opinion in the beginning but then realized she didn’t actually need to respect her opinion because Winnie is ridiculous and racist, lowkey or highkey, and rude.

I’m going to give the rivalries in total a 3 out of 5.

Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007)

The rivalry from In It to Win It is based on east coast and west coast politics, and the fact that the east coast has been continuously winning. My brother was saying that they should just fight because of how much they cheer off and were going at each other at the beginning of the movie. But because they have to come together, eventually the rivalry gets squashed.

In this movie, east coast, west coast politics was low stakes and based off of nothing and lowkey..the fact that you’re mad that they’re winning makes you a hater. So…I’m gonna give their rivalry…I’m gonna give it a 1 out of 5. I feel like it was the least interesting rivalry out of all of them…

well…no I’m going to give it a 2 out of 5.

‘Cause the execution of their rivalry was entertaining, like if you’re thinking they should just fight then I think it means you’re doing something well. But I also think it was so low stakes and Carson was being a hater cause she kept losing, so yeah…

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)

I’m not really sure why the rivalry existed in Fight to the Finish. I think it was just a fight to see who was the best and would win the championship, which I guess is fair. There’s a scene of them competing even while they’re dancing in club which was entertaining, but overall, this rivalry didn’t land for me.  Lina pretty much got along well with everyone else, so it’s the only rivalry I can think of right now unless I’m forgetting something. So I give it a 2 out of 5. Besides being run off at a cheer rally and dancing in the club, I can’t remember any times that their rivalry felt real. If anything, it just felt like Avery was being racist, well Avery and her friend, I don’t even think it was just her but at times it just felt like they were being racist and it had nothing to do with cheer, so actually I’m going to rate it a 1 out of 5.

Friendship

All the Bring it On movies did a great job with showing friendships honestly in my opinion. I’m going to rate based on if I think they’d be friends after they graduate with 1 being they won’t be friends and 5 being they’d 100% be friends, no questions asked. This will be out of ten points because I’ll be doing it for two friendship groups.

Bring It On (2000)

So for Bring It On I think Missy and Torrance will stay friends for a while, but I think that they’ll grow apart…unless Torrance and Cliff are end game and they get married or something, so I’m going to give it a 3 out of 5 because it could go either way.

With the Clovers because even though we didn’t get much of their friendship on screen, but what we did get was gold so I’m gonna give them a 5/5. I think they would stay friends 100 percent.

So, in total, I’m gonna rate it an 8/10

Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)

For All or Nothing, I think Camille, Kerrisha, Letti, and Britney’s friendship will most likely last, as long as Britney tones down her cringey, horrible impressions of how she thinks they act. So I’m gonna give it a 4 out of 5 because I can see it lasting, even if it’s without Britney. Like I think Camille, Kerrisha and Letti will stay friends, but also…I’m not 100% sold and can be swayed if you disagree with me.

I don’t think Britney will remain friends with any of her old teammates, because they will grow apart because they’re at different schools, and in the movie they didn’t really have that much contact in the first place, so I give it a 1 out of 5.

For a total of 5 out of 10.

Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007)

For In It to Win It, I think that Carson and the three main people she’s friends with from her squad and the two main people she was friends with from her squad have a possibility of staying friends for a while. They did reveal some hard truths to each other which could have deepened their connection, but it could also be proof that they’re not that close and don’t know each other well in the first place, so I give it a 3 out of 5 stars, so it could go either way.

I think Carson and Brooke also have a chance of staying friends, but who knows, they might become enemies again at the next cheer competition, so I give it a 3 out of 5 stars as well

for a total of 6 out of 10.

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)

I think that Lina, Trey, Gloria and Sky will be friends forever. Trey and Gloria moved schools to be with Lina and Sky is her step-sister, so they’re kinda stuck because I don’t think either of them would stop talking to their family, so I  give them a 5/5.

The team as a whole though, I don’t see them remaining friends, though Sky may keep in contact with a few people since those were her people before Lina got there, so I’ll give it a 2 out of 5

for a total of 7 out of 10.

Tally and Final Thoughts

So, in total, after adding up all the points, I ranked Bring It On as the best = All or Nothing as the second best, In It To Win It 18 out of 30 stars, and Fight To the Finish with 15.5 out of 30 stars.

I might be biased because I opened up the episode talking about how the first one is the best one, but I wasn’t proven wrong either and I think we can universally agree on that. It’s the other rankings that change. I really think that Bring It On is a damn near perfect movie and it’s one I always go back to. Aside from everything I said earlier, it’s also just genuinely funny and a good time.

Remember, I ranked and scored this based on what I was looking at in these categories. (And if I did the math wrong, respectfully, mind ya business.) It’s a reflection of how good I think that these movies are in these categories and compared to each other, and not what I think is the best movie or how much I like it. Even without the bonus round, the order of the movies is the same as I just said.

I’m truly surprised that In It To Win It wasn’t ranked last, but I think that the cheerleading makes up for what I didn’t like about the movie and for Fight to the Finish, the romance and the rivalry needed a little more umph behind it. I said it was underrated earlier, but maybe I lied. My bad.