Is it cold in here? There must be some Toros in the atmosphere! If you haven't seen the 2000 classic teen movie Bring It On, I am deeply saddened for you. Bring It On is the best teen movie to come out of the 1990s and 2000s combined. Since this isn't a democracy (it's a cheer-ocracy), there is no argument for this list of reasons why Bring It On is the best — and the spirit fingers aren't the only reason.
Bring It On follows the trials and tribulations of Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) and her rise and fall as cheer captain of the Rancho Carne Cheer Team. Torrance inherits the team from Big Red (Lindsay Sloane), and she is poised to take the team all the way to nationals and win, again, if she just sticks to the script that Big Red wrote for her. All seems well until newcomer Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku), an alternative gymnast who reluctantly joins the team, reveals to Torrance that their routines have been stolen from the Clovers, their rivals. Torrance doesn't believe Big Red would do that until she sees it with her own eyes. She decides that she doesn't want to win with pom-poms full of lies, so down the rabbit hole of new routines, drama, and unexpected love and friendships she goes to get the Toros to win fair and square.
'Bring It On' Has Cheesy Quotes (and Dance Moves) For Days
One of the reasons why Bring It On Is the best is because of how insanely quotable this movie is. If you and your friends are cinephiles and love working movie quotes into your everyday conversation, Bring It On can provide you with line after line of pure cheese and campiness. When you combine that aspect of the film with a perfect introduction song and choreographed dance, it makes for a riot of a Friday night with friends. When Bring It On starts, we are immediately thrust into a dance number in Torrance's dream that features all the cheer squad, well, cheering about who they are and giving us life with slightly cringe dance moves. It's a scene that will have you stopping and rewinding it over and over again just so you can learn all the words and moves.
'Bring It On' Has It All: Love, Friends, and Rivals
Of course, no teen movie is complete without romance, rivals, and rivals-turned-friends in unlikely conditions. On the romance front, Torrance and her older boyfriend Aaron (Richard Hillman) are totes cute and every other cheerleader and girl love him. Of course, he will be a totally faithful boyfriend when he goes off to college and Torrance stays in high school, right? Turns out, Torrance can do much better. Aaron is not only lacking in the support department, but he is even a little bit demeaning to Torrance's capabilities. Plus, when Torrance shows up at his dorm, she finds him in there with another girl. Guess you really aren't boyfriend material, Aaron.
That's okay though, because in the midst of this, Torrance meets Cliff (Jesse Bradford), Missy's alternative, contrarian brother. The two of them start to develop a connection that takes both of them by surprise, and it's cuter than you would expect. Who doesn't love an "opposites attract" story? As for the friendships in Bring It On, Missy is an incredibly unlikely friend for Torrance and helps her to come out of her shell and stop caring so much about what others think of her. In addition to that, who says a rival can't turn into a friend and inspiration to be better? The Clovers' head captain Isis (Gabrielle Union) helps to push Torrance to do better than her predecessor and promotes a friendly competition at Nationals. In the end, the Clovers join the Toros in a dance and cheer number to "Mickey" by Toni Basil. Starting and ending with a dance and cheer number? Perfection.
'Bring It On' Shows Winning Isn't Everything
With every possible movie character covered, there isn't anything that we are missing from the cast of Bring It On. We get the overzealous overachiever in Torrance, the rude and arrogant leader in Big Red, tough but compassionate friend in Missy, the crappy boyfriend in Aaron, and the unexpected "opposites attract" love interest in Cliff. Surpassing all the surface-level teenage movie tropes, we get to the root of the point and overarching theme of the movie. Bring It On captures the essence of how you may not always win, but your effort and integrity is what counts. We see that in Bring It On when Torrance decides she can no longer keep the stolen routine, offers to pay for the Clovers' way to Nationals, and graciously accepts second place at Nationals because it's what they actually earned.
'Bring It On' Set the Bar for Inclusivity
Bring It On was also a little ahead of its time in inclusivity, making the POC and queer communities involved in the plot in some capacity. Representation in each community was lacking during the time that Bring It On came out, and putting an emphasis on a cheer squad made up of all women of color who win in the end was different and much appreciated. The queer community also got representation on the Toros team from Les (Huntley Ritter) who has a brief meet-cute with another cheerleader from a different team at Nationals. Albiet brief, it was still given screen time in a more positive light when it was still so far and few between to openly depict queerness in film or television.
Bring It On is timeless. If you've seen this movie, you know you've been touched by an angel, girl.