Bring It On Again is a 2004 American direct-to-video teen sports comedy film directed by Damon Santostefano and written by Claudia Grazioso, Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn. It stars Anne Judson-Yager, Faune A. Chambers, Bree Turner, Bethany Joy Lenz and Richard Lee Jackson.
It is the second installment in the Bring It On film series. Although marketed as a sequel to Bring It On (2000), it features new characters and none of the original film's cast members. The film was released by Universal Pictures directly to home video on January 13, 2004.
Contents
Plot
Whittier arrives at the fictional California State College, hoping to join the national champion varsity cheerleading team. She meets her friend from cheer camp, Monica, and they both put on impressive performances at tryouts. Head cheerleader Tina is ready to ask them to join the team, but fellow cheerleader Greg goes a step further, telling Tina that Whittier will be the next head cheerleader. This angers Tina's pal, Marni, who had the position staked out, but at Dean Sebastian's urging, Tina goes along with the plan and takes Whittier under her wing.
Whittier meets Derek, a campus D.J. who immediately takes an interest in her. Tina is demanding and domineering, and she warns Whittier that Derek is not the type of boy she should be dating. Monica is bothered by Tina's meddling, but Whittier momentarily lets her cheerleading ambition get the better of her and betrays Derek. Tina is upset with Monica's sassy attitude and punishes her, which leads to an injury. She forces Whittier to choose between her friendship and the squad. Whittier and Monica get fed up with Tina's tyranny and quit the cheerleading team, but Whittier's school spirit cannot be suppressed.
With Monica's help, she gathers up the outcasts from the drama club, the dance club, and other groups that have lost their funding in favor of the cheerleading program, and forms a ragtag squad of her own, determined to battle the varsity squad for a spot at the national championship. The two teams end up competing for the spot at nationals, with Whittier's squad ultimately winning. Afterward, Whittier offers Tina a spot on her squad, a position Tina initially refuses but later wants. The film ends with Tina sucking up to Whittier and Monica, deciding she wants to be on their squad after all, while Marni throws a comical fit.
Production
Tony Gonzales choreographed the film's cheerleading routines and supervised the performers' training. According to DVD Talk, the cast underwent a physically demanding training and rehearsal schedule. The DVD featurette You're on the Set of Bring It On Again contains footage from the auditions and training sessions, alongside interviews with director Damon Santostefano, producers Thomas Bliss and Kelli Konop, Gonzales and members of the cast.
Filming took place at the University of California, Los Angeles in August 2002, including the university's campus.
Music
Paul Haslinger composed the film's original score. A cover of Pat Benatar's "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" accompanies the closing credits and outtakes. The song is also used in a special feature for the DVD's release.
Release
Bring It On Again was released directly to DVD in the United States by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on January 13, 2004. The DVD presents the film in anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The DVD included an alternate opening, deleted and alternate scenes, and featurettes.
The film was released on Blu-ray on July 10, 2018.
Reception
Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk praised Turner's deliberately exaggerated performance and described Judson-Yager and Chambers as entertaining, but believed that the performances were undermined by the screenplay. He called the film a "thin sequel" and did not recommend the DVD. In a separate review for the website, Adam Tyner found the cast respectable but the screenplay unremarkable, describing the film as a "standard-issue light sports flick".
Heather Boerner of Common Sense Media offered a more positive assessment, writing that the film had "loveable characters, a good moral, and some good fun". She considered its message conventional but called it a worthy contribution to the girls' coming-of-age genre.
Reviewing its 2018 Blu-ray release, Martin Liebman considered the film "utterly unoriginal" and overly dependent on the structure of its predecessor. Nevertheless, he found it reasonably entertaining as an undemanding sports comedy and praised Judson-Yager's handling of the role's physical requirements.
Legacy
In 2021, singer-songwriters Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine used the film as the inspiration for "Fictional California", a song from their collaborative album A Beginner's Mind. De Augustine defended their choice of source material, saying that the film "may not be classified as high art, but there's still something in it".
