BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
The telltale signs were all there. Megan (Natasha Lyonne) was a vegetarian who had pictures of female models on her wall and who didn't like kissing her jock boyfriend, who, with his economy-sized tongue, slobbered like a Saint Bernard.
Yes, you guessed it. She must have become a lesbian. Or at least so her parents, played by Bud Cort and Mink Stole, figure, which causes them to hire some deprogrammers from "True Directions" to "fix" their daughter and show her the way to righteousness again.
"BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER" protests Megan. Certainly no respectable All-American cheerleader could harbor secret desires for her fellow yellers, Megan reasons.
In Brian Wayne Peterson's script, which abides no subtle moments, Megan's true sexual orientation is never left in question. From the very beginning, we see her ogling other feminine bodies. Director Jamie Babbit could use some of John Waters's deft touch with comedy. The movie's satire is relegated to the visuals, with Rachel Kamerman's kitschy set decoration and Alix L. Friedberg's colorfully silly costumes providing almost all of the humor. The one-joke movie is cute but rarely funny.
The first time we see the True Direction outfits -- shocking pink for the girls and iridescent blue for the boys -- they are funny. But the uniform jokes quickly wear thin.
One episode has the students (read prisoners) trying to find their "root," as in what it was that turned them onto a homosexual lifestyle. One girl says it was because her mother wore pants to her own wedding, and another claims it was because she attended an all-girl boarding school. The simplest explanation of all comes from the girl who believes it was because she was born in France.
The film's quality test, on which BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER fails miserably, is what would the movie be like without the outlandish sets and costumes. The answer is that there wouldn't be much left.
BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER runs just 1:21. It is rated R for strong language and sexual content involving teens and would be acceptable for high school seniors.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
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