Bring It On (2000): Why the Cheerleading Comedy Still Gets a Cheer
Even in a film full of immaculate ponytails and perfectly timed spirit fingers, one look stuck: Isis, the sleek, composed captain of the East Compton Clovers, played by Gabrielle Union. Anyone who has gone looking for the hairstyles of Bring It On, or for the Clovers in general, is really looking for the part of the film that has aged best. Isis and her squad are the reason the movie still feels sharper than the average high school comedy.
Directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jessica Bendinger, Bring It On opened in the United States on August 25, 2000. It follows Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst), the newly elected captain of the Rancho Carne Toros. She wants a sixth straight national title, then learns that the routines her squad has been winning with were stolen from the Clovers, a hip-hop squad from East Compton.
A formula that knew it was a formula
The setup is familiar: a rival, a deadline, a big competition, a romance on the side. Time Out noted that the script holds few surprises. It also praised how well the film observes the dynamics of female friendships and the odd reality of the cheerleading world, and called the result lightweight but unexpectedly feelgood.
The film’s trick is tone. Reed, making his feature debut after years in television, plays the material with a raised eyebrow. Reelviews pointed out that he leaves his satire low-key and in the background. It also observed that some of the dialogue is painfully trite and that Reed gets his actors through it by making the silliness self-aware. Bendinger’s lines gave the film its quotable edge, and Reed’s timing is why they land.
The Clovers and the question of credit
The plot hinges on theft, and the film treats it as a question of credit and money. The Toros have the funding, the uniforms and the trophies. The Clovers have the originality, and they have never been able to afford a trip to the nationals. Isis is the one character who says this plainly, and she does it without raising her voice.
Union has since reflected on the part with a critical eye. In her book You Got Anything Stronger?, she wrote a letter to Isis about what she wished she had done differently. She noted that Isis was the only lead without a last name. She described herself as the fourth lead whose face was nonetheless on the poster. She wrote that Isis appears in only about a third of the film, and she questioned why people see the character as a villain at all, as NBC News reported. It is a pointed reading of a film that is easy to treat as pure fun, and it explains why Isis keeps coming up in conversation.
An ensemble built on contrast
Dunst anchors the film as Torrance, who is competitive, anxious and sincere, and the Toros around her are drawn with comic precision. Clare Kramer and Nicole Bilderback play Courtney and Whitney, and Eliza Dushku and Jesse Bradford play the Pantone siblings who shake up the squad. Opposite them, Union leads a Clovers ensemble that includes Natina Reed as Jenelope, Brandi Williams as LaFred and Shamari Fears as Lava.
The cheer sequences are the other half of the craft. The routines carry the story, from the stolen choreography to the final competition, and they are staged so that the Toros and the Clovers look like different schools of performance. That contrast does a lot of the film’s storytelling without any dialogue.
How it landed, and how it has held up
The film performed well from the start. Media Play News reported that it topped the North American box office charts for two weeks and earned more than $90 million worldwide. Reed went on to direct Yes Man and Ant-Man.
The 25th anniversary in 2025 showed how much affection remains. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures screened the film in 35mm on June 14, 2025, with a pre-screening conversation with Williams. Shout! Studios released a 25th Anniversary Edition on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 24, 2025. It came from a new transfer made from the original camera negative and approved by Reed, and it included a commentary track by the director.
In August 2025, Union marked the anniversary on Instagram. She said the cast thought they were just having fun in San Diego making a movie about cheerleaders, but “made an instant classic about so much more,” as Parade reported. She ended her message with a tribute to the late Natina Reed, calling her the cast’s “forever Clover.”
Why it lasts
The film lasts because it takes a small world seriously without ever losing its sense of humor. It is a comedy about sport, class and who gets credit for good work, and that gives it a spine the plot alone would not. Reed’s light touch keeps it quick, the ensemble keeps it warm, and Isis and the Clovers keep it honest. Twenty-six years after its release, it still gives audiences something to cheer for and something to argue about.
