Stick It (2006)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	98:55
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (68:44)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jessica Bendinger
Studio Distributor	Spyglass Entertain. Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jeff Bridges Missy Peregrym Vanessa Lengies Nikki SooHoo Maddy Curley Kellan Lutz
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	Mike Simpson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    It's hard to know what to expect from a teen sports drama that sells itself with the tag line "From the writer of Bring It On" and only features Jeff Bridges' name above the title. There is certainly more room in the world for light-hearted teen fluff with a good sense of humour, as was the case with Bring It On. Maybe Jeff Bridges has cult following among teens that they are keeping secret from the rest of the world (except, of course, movie producers). Probably not.

    Stick It is quite a dry drama and lacks the sense of fun that made Bring It On really enjoyable. It does occasionally try for that sense of fun, but it rarely clicks. The reason why it rarely clicks is simple; the supporting cast are underwritten and underused, so there is none of the sense of camaraderie that drive many of its peers' success. It's not all bad though. In particular, the inevitable montage bits are extremely well done - rather than chop together filler footage of training and the like they feature some kaleidoscopic dance routines that are quite fun to watch.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The film is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The image is quite sharp and very clear. There is no noticeable grain or low level noise at any point during the movie. The level of shadow detail is not very good (for example 4:28, where there is very little detail distinguishable on the characters' clothing), but there are literally two scenes dark enough to notice this in the entire film.

    Colour levels are bold and even throughout the film. Many scenes, particularly those in the Vickerman gym and at competitions, make excellent use of colour and contrast.

    There are no problems with MPEG or Film-To-Video Artefacts in the transfer.

    English subtitles for the hearing impaired are provided.

    This is a single-sided, dual-layer disc, with the layer change placed at 68:44.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    One audio track is available, English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384 Kbps).

    The dialogue is clear and in sync throughout the film, but is quite soft in the mix - particularly in comparison to the music.

    The soundtrack mostly consists of a diverse mix of alternative rock and hip hop. A piano based score from Mike Simpson is sparsely used throughout the film.

    The soundtrack makes limited use of the surround speakers for anything other than music. The music gives the whole sound system a good workout and makes frequent use of the subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This release feature a rather spartan extras package.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    A rather clunky animated menu with audio.

Theatrical Trailer

    A rather generic trailer for the DVD release of Stick It

    The Region 1 release of Stick It features a much more comprehensive package of extras than the local release. Region 4 misses out on:

• Additional Subtitles: Spanish, French
• Additional Audio Tracks: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Buttaharas: Outrageous bloopers & outtakes
• Skinny Fat: Hilarious deleted scenes with two optional commentaries
• Missy Elliott Music Video: "We Run This"
• Jeannie Ortega featuring Papoose Music Video: "Crowded"
• Hard Corps: The real gymnasts who were stunt doubles for Stick It
• The Elites: Full gymnastics routines performed by some of the world's best with optional commentary
• The Judges' Table: Uneven bar routines in slow motion with optional commentary
• Read My Mind: Multiple feature commentaries - director and actors, director and filmmakers

    Region 1 only misses out on the Theatrical Trailer featured on the local release.

    The winner of this comparison is Region 1 by a landslide.

    A mediocre entry into the teen sport drama genre. Only a trailer in the way of extras.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good, but dialogue is quiet in the mix.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall