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BRING IT ON, a regrettably titled teen drama about... cheerleading competition is actually pretty savvy in spots. The direction, by Raleigh native and first-time feature-filmmaker Peyton Reed, has a stunning amount of energy, the script offers an amusing stream of slang-soaked teen-speak (like, where are the subtitles?), and the tone is all at once sweet, sexy, comic, *and* campy. Way cool. Kirsten Dunst, bubbly and bouncy and I don't mean disposition, stars as a high-school senior and newly elected cheerleading cap- tain whose early trials include an injured pom-bearer (with subse- quent droll try-outs sequence), the discovery that their champion- ship-winning cheers are stolen (total gasp), and a boy. Specific- ally, a quasi-geeky newcomer to both her school and her study hall. For a good hour, the multipurpose tone *makes* the movie: budding love here, gratuitous (though clothed) tee and aye there, and ten activity busses' worth of bitchy blondes, brunettes, and redheads. No cat-fights, however. Damn. Gotta love that the characters all talk fast, too. Like, old movies. Alas, things turn tedious to- ward the end, during the Florida-set competitions, where Reed's in- vigorating, quick-cutting style actually *dilutes* the amazing-ness of the acrobatics. Don't be surprised to be surprised that even the best routines seem barely special. With Jesse Bradford, Eliza Dushku (remember her as Arnie's daughter in TRUE LIES?), Gabrielle Union, Clare Kramer, Melissa George, Tsianina Joelson, Nicole Bil- derback, and, as Dunst's character's college boyfriend, Richard Hillman, a young actor who, I kid you not, looks like the animated corpse of Phil Hartman. Very scary. (Rated "PG-13"/95 min.) Grade: C+ Copyright 2000 by Michael J. Legeros Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros