TMS Retro: Happy 25th Anniversary to Two Childhood Faves

(Sony Pictures / Universal Pictures)

This past August marked the 25th anniversary of Peyton Reed’s cheerleading comedy Bring It On (2000), my favorite modern movie in 6th grade and what critic Roger Ebert even referred to as “The Citizen Kane of cheerleading movies.” This upcoming November will also make it 25 years since the release of my second favorite movie that same year, McG’s action blockbuster Charlie’s Angels (2000). The Spice Girls’ phenomenon had already peaked, but girl power was still riding high in Hollywood, and this 11-year-old girl was locked in just as much. CA’s Drew Barrymore and BIT’s Kirsten Dunst were two of my favorite young actresses when I was growing up, which meant their new releases were regularly on my radar. Fortunately, both ladies were in their prime and mostly starring in decent-to-good films, some of which were even PG or PG-13, such as Bring It On and Charlie’s Angels. You can ask anyone I knew at the time, these were my two most anticipated movies, and the trailers were my most watched videos on the world wide web. I even dressed as Drew’s Angels character, Dylan, for Halloween a week before the movie was even in theaters [and had to accept most people mistaking me for Buffy the Vampire Slayer]. When I went back to school in September ’00, we had to find an appropriate web game on the internet to practice typing during our very archaic computer classes; and I chose the games featured on the official Bring It On website. I can still hear “Time to get bus-eh!” in my head when I think of that web game.

I saw both movies multiple times in theaters and you can bet I watched them ad nauseam when I had the DVDs at home, as was also the case with each soundtrack on CD. But why? Why did little me enjoy Bring It On and Charlie’s Angels so much? Well, when you’re a child your standards are pretty low and obsessions can heighten your attention span. But I think it was also a few things. I was about to start middle school, and most PG-13 rated movies are aimed toward pre-teens and teenagers. Both feature catchy and versatile songs from pop, hip-hop and rock. Both have positive portrayals of female friendship, effective comic relief/comedy gags, and solid choreography. While neither made me want to join the cheerleading squad or learn martial arts, they reminded me how much fun going to the movies is with my friends, and how entertainment quality is the no. 1 priority with studio pictures. Of course, like with most movies—especially movies from childhood—not everything holds up 100% perfectly. While I generally think Bring It On aged surprisingly well with its commentary on cultural appropriation and respecting each other through fair competition, the gay jokes do make me cringe now and feel ‘of their time.’ Watching Charlie’s Angels as an adult makes it really obvious there were [reportedly] daily rewrites from numerous screenwriters during production and explains some of the sloppy plot points. But guilty pleasures exist for a reason, and though I don’t feel guilty about still enjoying two hit movies from my youth, I can watch them through grownup eyes and acknowledge they aren’t perfect while still liking them. I know every word to all the cheers in Bring It On, Charlie’s Angels was one of my gateways to classic rock, I continue to follow Drew’s and Kirsten’s careers, and I don’t think I’ll stop enjoying two of my favorite movies any time soon.