Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Nicholas D’Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, Sarah Roemer, Molly Sims
In Cinemas: 23 April 2009

How many more of these formulaic teen-comedies can there be? While Bring It On and Road Trip type flicks were in vogue ten years ago, Fired Up is relatively harmless attempt at cashing in on what was once a successful genre. In a nutshell, Fired Up combines silliness and lowbrow American Pie style humour, except with a much tamer PG rating. It is a chuckle-free movie too toned down to be crude yet lacking the wit to be funny.

The story involves two high school football stars, Shawn (D’Agosto) and Nick (Olsen) who are desperate to avoid another summer at football camp. Instead, they join the cheerleader’s summer camp with the shallowest intentions you can expect from teenage boys. All is well until Shawn falls hard for the head cheerleader, Carly (Roemer).

Fired Up stands out from the legions of other teen comedies in the sense that the two lead actors look like they are at least ten years too old to be in high school. At least in Bring It On the main characters fit the part. D’Agosto is 28, whereas Olsen is 32. Although their chemistry is good, it is hard to get over seeing these two very adult-looking men pose as horny 17-year-olds.

And while nothing about this film promises a substantial storyline, it is reasonable to expect some sort of convincing comedy. Unfortunately, the jokes are few and rely on obvious stereotypes and unfunny verbalising for humour. While undiscerning teen audiences may lap it up, Fired Up certainly doesn’t break any new ground in the teen movie realm.

2 out of 5 stars.