Stick It
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: April 28, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
14
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesNathan Lee
A spry teenage comedy that gets everything right, Stick It takes the usual batch of underdogs, dirt bags, mean girls and bimbos and sends them somersaulting through happy clichés and unexpected invention. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A sports empowerment fantasy of the best kind. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Other than flubbing the dismount, Stick It is smarter and funnier than it has any right to be. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Peregrym's performance as fiery, troubled teen Haley Graham is a triumph of charisma over technique. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Bendinger pulls out all the stops visually, using bold set design, frantic editing, extreme angles and computer image multiplying that turns what begins as a Busby Berkeley exercise in synchronized movement into a kaleidoscopic infinity of handsprings and back flips. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Subversively funny, Stick It sees gymnastics as a microcosm of teen life. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Much of the honest dialogue has the same feel as John Hughes' and Cameron Crowe's movies during their best years, while there's a half-serious hipness that recalls the first eight episodes of "The O.C." Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyScott Brown
A deliriously, defiantly unfocused headrush, Stick It is primarily an exercise in exercise. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Despite the familiar story arc and MTV visuals, Bendinger puts this across with a certain amount of pizzazz, and the competitive gymnastics are often spectacular. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Spends an inordinate amount of time ogling the tight, lithe bodies of its young female characters. Thus, what might have appealed only to teen girls might well have crossover appeal to leering young boys as well. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
So along with being fake punk-rock, Stick It is also a fake protest movie. That leaves the only traces of genuineness to Bridges, who plays the coach with a fatherly patience that earns him a paycheck, but not the better film he deserves. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
Stick It reels from its own frenetic pace. The music is loud, the camera cuts are incessant and everything seems geared toward distracting us from what's going on onscreen. Which is not much. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Like "Bring It On," Stick It is so much better than most of its insipid teen-movie peers yet like her earlier movie, Bendinger's new one is also not all it might be. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Peregrym is a fresh-faced beauty and Bridges is enjoyably cranky, but the film is as bland as an Afterschool Special. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
The final meet felt eternal to me, but little girls may love it all, and even if they don't, they're almost sure to practice their handstands when they get home. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Bridges actually does a fine job in an uninteresting role. But this chick flick is all about the attitudinal teenagers. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Bridges gives the movie its only genuine pulse as a gym coach known for his hard and manipulative ways. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Stick It uses the story of a gymnast's comeback attempt as a backdrop for overwrought visual effects, music videos, sitcom dialogue and general pandering. The movie seems to fear that if it pauses long enough to actually be about gymnastics, the audience will grow restless. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Peregrym is like a secondhand Hilary Swank. She has a looser presence and might be a better actor, but since we already have Swank, finding out is not a priority. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
Even though William Safire doesn't fit in the target demographic, Stick It is more valuable as a survey of modern American teen argot than as a movie. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
The film strives for some type of a girl-empowerment message that equates trading one type of conformity for another with self-determination but muffs the dismount and stumbles on the landing. In other words, it fails to Stick It. Read full review
40
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
Another rah rah girl power film, is your formula sports film. Read full review
40
EmpireSimon Braund
The script fights well against the cliche-ridden plot but this is very average all round. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Instead of gold-medal-winning, last-minute heroics, the movie weirdly becomes about the scandal of arbitrary gymnastics judges. Is it a movie or an episode of "Real Sports"? It veers into fresh territory but not dramatically satisfying territory. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
Rarely is a sports movie so inept that it can't even make its central figure likable. Read full review
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