There's 'cheerleader angst'

Thank you, O Lord. Such was my reaction after viewing "Bring It On," a bouncing-with-exuberance tale of high school cheerleaders. Hey, where are you going? Don't put down the paper just because you bumped into the word "cheerleaders." Honestly, it's not that bad.

In fact, it's a "tale of cheerleader angst" so . . . there you go, walking away again. Listen, sometimes it takes a movie like "Bring It On" to really appreciate adult life, life that has done with high school forever. Those times were hard, even for those of us who didn't have to wave pompoms, wear tight little sweaters, go out with the captain of the football team and smile for the entire length of our waking hours, ugh. But never mind, all that's far behind us. We're adults now. We can sit in front of a computer screen for the rest of our lives, blinking and eating doughnuts.

Which is why we can watch movies like this with delighted horror. "Bring It On" tells all about the rigors, hardships and dangers of cheerleading life, where good looks and good moves are mere prerequisites. Girls must also prove adept at backward flips, somersaults and cartwheels, all in the manner of Perfect 10 Olympic gymnasts, and must never mess up their hair in the process, never. They are fine-tuned and disciplined down to their fingertips. The only thing they can't do, apparently, is, well, study. But who cares?