Fired Up! Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
Shawn Colfax and Nick Brady, the stars of the Gerald R. Ford High School football team, are
dreading the prospect of another summer at football camp. When Nick hatches a scheme for
the two to join their school's cheerleaders at cheer camp instead, they find themselves awash
in a sea of gorgeous young women. It all goes great until Shawn falls for Carly, the beautiful
head cheerleader who sees right through them.
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! 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.
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.
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.
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!
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring both the rated and unrated versions of the comedy 'Fired Up!' to Blu-ray on June 9th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Video will be presented in 2.40:1 1080p AVC accompanied by a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD ...
