Rebellious athletically talented teenager Haley Graham (relative newcomer Missy Peregrym) finds herself in trouble with the law after a BMX stunt goes horribly wrong resulting in some major property damage. Next thing the girl knows she's sentenced to enroll, live and study at the Vickerman Gymnastics Academy, a militaristic tumbling school run by legendary coach Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges, “The Door in the Floor”).

This is the last place Haley wants to be. Her last foray into gymnastics ended badly, the teen inexplicably walking out on her red, white and blue teammates at the World Gymnastics Championships costing the U.S. a Gold Medal. Now she’s back, and Haley’s headstrong ways of battling the sport’s rigid conformity don’t exactly sit well with Vickerman. Through it all, the two still manage to find away to bond, coach becoming friend and mentor and athlete finally deciding to live up to her potential.

Okay, so if you’re still awake after that synopsis (and I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t), be surprised because for a good hour or so the sports coming of age melodrama “Stick It” is actually a pretty pleasantly diverting affair. “Bring It On” writer Jessica Bendinger’s (also making her directorial debut) screenplay is loose, flirty and really funny during the picture’s first half as it depicts Haley’s world, the people who inhabit it and the friends she holds dear. Better, the picture does not skimp on examining the pure unadulterated determination it takes to be a world-class athlete, Haley taking so many falls, tumbles and face-first nosedives I felt like I was earning my share of bruises just watching her.

Unfortunately, that’s only half a movie. The other half is a litany of tired clichés piled one upon the other and told with so little flair or flourish it nearly erases all the good will generated during the delightful first acts. Even a novel twist towards the end doesn’t help, watching the gymnasts attempt to wrestle their sport away from judges and rules completely out of step with the times about as exciting as a quadriplegic wheelchair race between two mentally challenged snails.

The second half is really that bad. After delivering a nicely nuanced, gently shaded performance for roughly 45 minutes it is as if Bridges suddenly loses interest in his character. He sleepwalks through the final scenes, going through the motions so thoroughly I almost couldn’t believe it was the same actor. Not that Bendinger does him any favors. Vickerman isn’t exactly an original to begin with, but at least in the first couple of acts he has some shading to his character, some tints of darkness making him an intriguing enigma. But that duality disappears, almost on a dime, at the midpoint, and as it does I could literally watch Bridges stop caring about the man pretty much altogether.

Thankfully, there is that near-wonderful first half to at least hold on to. Through this portion Bendinger gets it, if not complete right, close enough it brings on an almost permanent smile. Peregrym is perfectly delightful in the lead, the young actress making such a beguiling impression I can actually say I’m excited to see what she does next. I also liked the director’s visual sensibilities, her use of both color and perspective truly sensational with Daryn Okada’s (“Mean Girls”) cinematography a standout. Better, there is actual wit to Bendinger’s dialogue, the writer catching the same fire in a bottle she managed to ensnare with her rambunctiously mesmeric high school cheerleading squad in “Bring It On.”

Still, the basic premise running through this thing is pretty thin, the clichés tying it together as obvious as a bright pink woolen sweater worn by a six-foot pro football player in the middle of the Nevada desert. Worse, when the whole thing starts to fall apart it doesn’t do so slowly, instead collapsing instantaneously into a tired run-of-the-mill garbage pile so smelly a person probably needs to soak in tomato juice and talcum powder just to get the residue off. “Stick It” may get the first few of the trickier elements spot-on, but the stuff in the middle of the routine is flawed while the dismount bringing it to a close isn’t just a disappointment, it’s a disaster.

Film Rating: êê  (out of 4)