Released to video in 2007 and directed by Steve Rash, "Bring it On: In it to Win it" is a high school dramedy/sports flick starring Ashley Benson and Cassandra Scerbo as Carson and Brooke, the captains of two rival cheerleading teams, the West Coast Sharks and the East Coast Jets respectively. They meet at Camp Spirit-Thunder in Florida for the championship, but Carson's romance with a male cheerleader of the Jets (Michael Copon) throws a wrench into the proceedings. Everything falls apart when the rival squads engage in a cheer-rumble where half their teammates sustain injuries that remove both the Sharks and the Jets from competition. What will they do?
"In it to Win it" is the fourth movie in the franchise. The others are "Bring it On" (2000), "Bring it On Again" (2004), "Bring it On: All or Nothing" (2006) and "Bring it On: Fight to the Finish" (2009). The first movie was the only one that was theatrically released and is therefore the most polished in the series as far as overall production quality. This perhaps explains why I couldn't get past the 50-minute mark of "In it to Win it" the first time I tried to watch it, but I decided to give it another chance and am glad I did because the first half is just a build-up to the nigh genius of the second half. While the first half is kinetic fun, it lacks dramatic depth and therefore becomes a bore by the mid-point, but the second half fleshes out the great characters and everything clicks for an amusing high school dramedy/ sports flick.
What distinguishes "In it to Win it" is that the entire movie takes place at the national cheer camp, which is parallel to a huge amusement park; as such, there are no high school sequences. In the first half you'll role your eyes at the stereotypes, but the second half pulls the rug out from underneath your presumptions with a great "confession" sequence. Highlights include the semi-homage to the renowned "West Side Story," the great cast, the smart amusement, the energetic tone and some amazing cheer routines, not to mention Ashley Tisdale's hit song during the credits. "In it to Win it" also has better women than the first movie, although not as good as "All or Nothing" (featuring Hayden Panettiere and Danielle Savre).
Speaking of the "great cast," they're essentially no-names, but they deliver the goods as a nice assortment of characters that you come to understand and like over the course of the story. Beyond the cast noted above, the top ones are Noel Areizaga (the gay Shark), Jennifer Tisdale (curvy white Jet), Kierstin Koppel (the Goth Shark) and Anniese Taylor Dendy (black shark with seemingly ghetto edge).
The film runs 90 minutes and was shot at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Orlando Resort.
GRADE: B
