Pink and missundaztood (But I'm A Cheerleader (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	But I'm A Cheerleader (DVD)
Date:	18/05/04 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun

Disadvantages: Could have been funnier

“But I’m a cheerleader” is a quirky and very funny cult movie. It’s based around Megan, a 17 year old cheerleader, in smalltown America (where else?). She looks like a stereotypical girl in high school, Sandra Dee goodlooks – like a cheerleader, in fact – and, off course she is a cheerleader for the school team, too. But… there are some little things that are just a little, well, queer… there are photos of women in her locker… she has a boyfriend, and he’s a hunk, the captain of the football team… but she hates kissing him… It could be that he’s really bad at it, but maybe there’s another reason?

Megan’s parents soon get wind of all of this, conclude that Megan is on the slippery slope and showing definite lesbian tendencies, and decide that there’s nothing else for it - she must go to a rehabilitation camp. This is run by a quasi-religious organisation called True Directions, and it’s a place where young people go (or, more usually, are sent) to get rid of any homosexual urges they might have.
That’s the theory anyway.

Megan is actually oblivious to all of this, and understandably not too keen about the rehabilitation camp idea. Quite simply, she doesn’t think she needs to be rehabilitated, because she doesn’t think she is a lesbian. Until she meets Graham, that is, a tomboy (i.e. a girl) who has also been sent to the camp. It soon becomes clear that the rehabilitation is VERY camp – and therein lies the basis of the movie!

It’s all very colourful (hence the Pink in my title), and Megan is portrayed as one of those misunderstood teen heroines. Ultimately, when you look at the plot in this light, it’s not really that original, and the storyline is mostly quite predictable, but it do
es have a little something extra, I feel.

Megan, played by Natasha Lyonne, and Graham (Clea Duvall) are excellent as the central characters. Megan’s WASP parents are played by Mink Stole and Bud Cort.
The camp is run by the extremely homophobic Mary (Cathy Moriarty), who is assisted by Mike the counsellor, played by RuPaul, who looks great out of his drag outfit – very muscle-y and very, erm, gay. Wait a minute, isn’t he a True Directions member of staff? Isn’t he supposed to be persuading the young kids to become straight?

It’s all very light-hearted and tongue in cheek. The décor is all very flamboyant, with bright colours everywhere, especially pink. There’s also a 50s feel to the fashions. I adored the bathroom walls, which were adorned with what looked like artificial daisies – all over. The mixture of surreal scenes and clichéd roles, mean that you are left in no doubt that this is a satirical comedy. It is a funny movie, too – there are plenty visual jokes, as well as the obvious ironies – and you don’t have to be gay to appreciate them!
The theme is gayness, but don’t expect any hot sex scenes, it’s not that kind of movie.

This DVD can be acquired VERY cheaply – it obviously isn’t everyone’s thing and definitely isn’t a huge seller. At the moment it’s £5.99 on amazon.co.uk, and £5.99 on bensons-world.co.uk. It seems like it’s in some kind of budget release series.

There are some extras included –
Best is a behind the scenes look at the movie in an interview with director Jamie Babbit. It all seems like it’s been put together in a slapdash manner, but at least there are extras – often at t
his kind of price you get the movie only, and nothing else.


This was his first movie, but Babbit has also directed many TV shows, notably “Malcolm in the Middle”, with which this has a lot in common. It’s definitely a good laugh if you like your humour ironic and a little weird.
“But I’m a cheerleader” is a joyous, quirky, and ultimately rather innocent tale of a girl who just wants to do what she enjoys most – cheerleading!

Summary: