Review of Fired Up! (2009) by Ovi G — 20 Jun 2010

Don't get fooled by first appearances. It's made to please, I assure you. Humor, sillyness and those damn hot bodies that are just a delight.

The dialogue is the best thing which I was surprised to see..Rather than rely entirely on hard bodies and gross out gags, Fired Up! packed its duration with rapid fire banter and non sequiturs straight out of a screwball comedy, to the point that they even snuck in a reference to Hepburn and Tracy. While the ratio of good jokes to bad wasn?t especially high, Fired Up! dealt in bulk, throwing as many zingers at the audience as it could and hoping that at least some of it stuck. Also on tap were a wide assortment of zany supporting characters, papering over the few cracks when the two leads needed to take a break. These ancillary characters were utilized especially well during scenes with heavy exposition, performing sight gags in the distance that broke up the tedium.

The main thing holding back Fired Up! is its rating. Rather than risk it for the biscuit, they?ve played it safe and aimed for a limiting PG-13. Fired Up! does an admirable job making up for the lack of nudity, but it falters in the restrictions placed on swearing. It seems that the word ?shit? is safe, since it?s used dozens of times throughout, but practically every other swear word is verboten. This was especially painful whenever anyone referred to genitalia, for which the actors were forced to use euphemisms that would make a third-grader cringe. Each instance was a sour note that marred an otherwise enjoyable teen sex comedy, and I would have rather the characters didn?t refer to their ?produce? and ?nutter butters? at all rather than see them embarrass themselves.

Despite my gripes, in this era of the dramedy it?s nice to come across a comedy this stupidly eager to please. Peace!