Fired Up! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Fired Up! Blu-ray Movie Review

This generic teen comedy fizzles far more often than it sizzles.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 7, 2009

We. Are crashing. We. We. Are crashing!

From the same people who designed the logo for American Pie comes Fired Up!, a new Comedy about two guys who are totally fired up! In the tradition of most every other lame-brained hormonal Comedy of the last 10 years, Fired Up! tells the story about best friends who are fired up! over girls, girls, girls, girls, and that one blonde girl, because she's fired up! Fired Up! is Pre. Dictable. Pre. Pre. Dictable! and Un. Original. Un. Un. Original! The jokes are Re. Cycled. Re. Re. Recycled! from the shelves upon shelves of similarly-themed movies to grace the stock of Block. Buster. Block. Block. Buster! But like totally oh my gosh, no doubt this flick's target audience will like it Well. Enough. Well. Well. Enough!

Wow. They're definitely FIRED UP!

Best friends and high school football quarterback-wide receiver comboNick (Eric Christian Olsen) and Shawn (Nicholas D'Agosto) obsess not about football or grades, but girls. Quite unlike most other movies of this sort, Shawn and Nick regularly find themselves in the company of the young lady of their choice, save for Shawn's crush Carly (Sarah Roemer), the head of the cheerleading squad. Bored with the selection of girls at Gerald R. Ford High, Shawn and Nick become male cheerleaders when they learn of the existence of a cheer camp populated by 300 girls from all over the state. The odds stacked heavily in their favor to meet and seduce multitudes of cheerleaders, Shawn and Nick turn to Shawn's younger sister and J.V. cheerleader extraordinaire Poppy (Juliette Goglia) for help in mastering the basics. With their other obligations -- most importantly football camp -- skillfully brushed out of the way, Shawn and Nick head on out and almost immediately hit things off with any number of the girls at camp. When they learn of the hatred shown to their Tigers squad by the #1-ranked and snotty rival Panthers team, Shawn and Nick slowly begin to take cheering more seriously in hopes of finally finishing the end-of-camp tournament somewhere other than the cellar. Try as they may, though, life around 300 young girls and an assortment of other characters doesn't exactly allow for cheering to be at the top of their activity list.

Fired Up! plays out exactly like any halfway astute audience member would expect of it. Once the "plot" is set in motion, is there any doubt that the hour-plus to follow will contain nothing but a barrage of sexual escapades, goofy dialogue from clichéd and one-dimensional characters, a change of heart about the purpose of cheer camp, and -- like totally no way -- a solid performance at the big competition at the end from the usually-hapless Gerald R. Ford Tigers? Sure, maybe that final showdown has a minor surprise in store, but from the very moment the words "Fountain of Troy" spill out from one character's mouth, does anyone over the age of three (though hopefully nobody that young is actually watching this) not expect the go-get-em Tigers not to successfully employ that dangerous cheer at the end of the film? Fired Up! doesn't try to be the next The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or some highbrow art house film, but just a smidgen of novelty out of these sorts of flicks would be appreciated.

In its defense, Fired Up! features a few scattered moments that enjoy a hearty chuckle. Most jokes fall flat straight away, particularly those that come from the oh-so-stereotypical band of characters that covers the entire spectrum of the average teen-centric Comedy populace. A few do stand out, though, and almost make the movie worth watching. The character "Rick" (David Walton) delivers a solid barrage of goofy dialogue and physical mannerisms that make for the film's most unique character and situations. Stuck in the early 1990s and the ultimate pseudo-learned med school prep jerk, he's one of the better Raunchy-Comedy villains to come along in some time. Also surprisingly good in his role is Eric Christian Olsen as Nick, whose performance -- both physically and verbally -- channels Jim Carey (Yes Man) in most every scene. His dialogue usually sharp as a tack and delivered just as wonderfully, his performance won't earn him an Oscar nomination, but for Fired Up! it's actually pretty good.

Fired Up! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fired Up! graces Blu-ray with a well-above-average 1080p, 2.40:1-framed transfer. As is the case with the many of the better -- and particularly newer -- transfers on the market, Fired Up! delivers a natural, film-like appearance that features strong color reproduction across the entire palette. Whether the orange Tigers football and cheer uniforms or the green foliage seen throughout the movie, colors are uniformly vibrant and crystal-clear. However, a few scenes appear a bit washed out, colors seemingly just ever-so-slightly faded. Detail impresses throughout, the many outdoor scenes featuring tree bark or finely-manicured fields, or interior dorm scenes, stand out nicely. Flesh tones look fine, perhaps a slight bit rosy in some shots, and blacks are dark and natural. A minute amount of contrast wavering may be seen in a few scenes. Nevertheless, this transfer offers a rather strong film-like appearance; a very slight layer of grain rounds out an impressive 1080p image.

Fired Up! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As expected, Sony brings Fired Up! to Blu-ray with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The movie is packed with catchy popular beats and plenty of 90s music that play clearly and with a nice, natural presence throughout the entire front end of the soundstage, each note across the entire dynamic range crystal clear and pleasing to the ear. Ambient noise and sound effects scatter all across the front, but the rear channels feature little in the way of support. Bass kicks in to support the music now and then, though it registers only enough to slightly reverberate throughout the listening area, not to cause a magnitude 4 earthquake. Dialogue delivery impresses in every scene. Certainly no great shakes from a sonic perspective, this soundtrack does all that is asked of it, and it delivers all the material with a nice and clear but front-heavy presentation.

Fired Up! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Fired Up! contains both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film. When playing the unrated version, a star icon will sporadically appear on-screen to indicate footage not seen in the theatrical cut. As to the standard supplemental features, the package is headlined by a commentary track with Director Will Gluck and Actors Nicholas D'Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen. A completely off-the-wall track, this one proves funnier than the movie and completely inane, the trio poking fun at the film, commenting on the age of the actors, the budget, shooting techniques, the actors, the plethora of girls, the occasional homage to other pictures throughout, and plenty more. This is the perfect commentary for the quality of the movie, a none-too-serious effort that makes for a worthwhile listen. This is Not a Cheerleading Movie: The Making of 'Fired Up!' (1080p, 15:37) is an above-average making-of piece that, like the commentary, takes an easygoing tone. Topics of discussion include the plethora of kisses in the film, learning how to cheer, shooting some of the more risqué scenes, the costumes, and the friendships formed on the set, among others. Double Duty (1080p, 6:29) looks further into the work involved in both learning to cheer and appearing as quality football players.

Next up is an uncensored gag reel (480p, 8:05) and 'Fired Up!' Press Junket -- Hour 12 (480p, 1:50), a mock piece featuring an angry Eric Christian Olsen denying that Fired Up! is a movie about cheerleading. Concluding the supplements on disc one is BD-Live functionality and 1080p trailers for The International, Waltz With Bashir, Obsessed, Ghostbusters, The Class, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Assassination of a High School President, The Informers, The Accidental Husband, Superbad, Pineapple Express, The House Bunny, and Step Brothers. Disc two of this set contains a digital copy of the unrated version of Fired Up!. Sampled on a second-generation iPod Touch, the audio plays with a somewhat small, artificial drive-in quality sound. On the other hand, the picture quality appears as average for a digital copy, adequate for its purpose in all areas but hindered by some noticeable, but generally not overwhelming, blocking.

Fired Up! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Save for audiences that crave stale material, mostly unfunny characters, and a barrage of mediocre-to-bad jokes, Fired Up! is a monumental Waste. Of time. Waste. Waste. Of time! Though it does feature a couple of good performances and one or two decent characters, the throwaway story and predictable nature of the picture don't really do anything to make it worth watching. It's certainly up to the task when the evening calls for the ultimate in "leave your brain at the door" entertainment, but for those times when story, characterization, and all of those other pesky niceties seem like a good idea, Fired Up! won't fit the bill. Sony's Blu-ray release, on the other hand, isn't too shabby. Serving up a great-looking transfer, a clear but front-heavy soundtrack, and a few bonus materials, the technical package is up to par, but the movie leaves a lot to be desired and just doesn't do enough to merit a purchase, particularly at the currently-listed $27.99. Ouch. Stay. Away. Stay. Stay Away!