Two out of
Five stars
Running time:
94 mins
Crass comedy that almost succeeds thanks to Olsen's comic energy and does have a couple of good laughs, but is ultimately let down by obnoxious characters, a half-hearted plot and a criminal lack of actual nudity.
What's it all about?
Directed by Will Gluck, Fired Up stars Eric Christian Olsen and Nicholas D'Agosto (Heroes) as Nick and Shawn, two cocky high school football players who've already seduced most of the girls at Gerald R. Ford High. They duly enrol in cheerleading camp for the summer, intending to work their way through hundreds of new girls, but Shawn finds himself falling for cheerleading captain Carly (Sarah Roemer), while Nick gets increasingly frustrated in his failed attempts to seduce Diora (Molly Sims), the sexy wife of the chief coach (John Michael Higgins).
The Good
Olsen has a huge amount of comic energy (it's no surprise he was chosen to play Jim Carrey's character in Dumb and Dumberer) and manages to get several good laughs (particularly his delivery of the line ‘I thought that was prohibidibabido?’), despite his character being relentlessly obnoxious throughout. Similarly, D'Agosto just about manages the transition from smug horndog to lovestruck nice guy and there's strong comic support from both Higgins and David Walton, as Carly's even-more-obnoxious boyfriend.
In addition, the script delivers the occasional good moment (the entire cheerleading school mouthing along to Bring It On) and the snappy dialogue keeps things moving at a decent pace.
The Bad
The problem is that the jokes that don't work (gay Indian stereotypes, unfunny montage sequences, a spectacularly misjudged - for a 12A certificate - anal beads gag) far outweigh the jokes that do, while the script doesn't really care enough about the plot to deliver a satisfying finale. Similarly, for a film this relentlessly sexist, the 12A certificate is practically a slap in the face as the target audience is almost certainly going to be expecting at least a few topless shots.
Worth seeing?
If Fired Up was just a touch less obnoxious and a tiny bit smarter, it would be a semi-decent comedy. As it is, it's never exactly awful but it could easily have been a lot better.