But I'm a Cheerleader
by Jamie Babbit
List Price:
Our Price: $7.29
You Save: $7.69 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brandt Wille, Bud Cort, Clea DuVall, Michelle Williams, Natasha LyonneDirector: Jamie Babbit
Brand: Lions Gate
Writer: Jamie Babbit
Producer: Alexis Magagni-Seely
Producer: Andrea Sperling
Producer: Andy Kaplan
Producer: Donald Kushner
Producer: Effie Brown
Writer: Brian Wayne Peterson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of But I'm a Cheerleader
Movie Review: A cheerleader and lots of camp go to an anti-gay camp
Summary: 5 Stars
Megan Bloomfield (Natasha Lyonne) thinks she's the 'all-American' girl. After all, she's pretty, popular, has a boyfriend and also is a cheerleader.
So it honestly comes as a big surprise when she is declared a homosexual and sent to rehabilitation camp. Her parents and friends have used her vegetarian diet and musical taste in Melissa Ethridge to proactively decide that she 'must' be a lesbian. The audience also sees that she does not like kissing her boyfriend very much at the beginning of the film.
Right down to the sugary sweet sessions and obsession with strict gender roles, "True Directions" is a lampoon of 'ex gay' programs which gullible parents still send their kids to. Rupal, one of America's most famous drag queens, makes a hilarious cameo appearance as 'Mike'.
Far from 'curing' Megan of her sexuality, this program actually strengthens her conviction that it is how society views them and not the sexuality itself which actually is unhealthy.
During the counseling sessions, the founder Mary (hilariously played by Cathy Moriaty) actually suggests that people are turning to homosexuality only because they do not understand proper gender roles and/or might have lived through the experience of a mother working outside the home.
Megan does manage to find love at this camp. She meets Graham (Clea DuVall) who does not even attempt to follow the "True Directions" program.
Since her own parents will literally kill her if she remains a lesbian, Graham represents conscious political resistance in this otherwise homophobic environment because she is comfortable with who she is and recognizes the program is garbage.
The relationship between Meghan and Graham is sweeet.
Summary of But I'm a Cheerleader
BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER - DVD MovieA promising comedy that goes awry all too early, But I'm a Cheerleader concerns a misunderstood high school kid (Natasha Lyonne) whose parents send her to a harsh, homosexual-rehabilitation camp despite a lack of evidence that she's gay. Ruled with an iron fist by a fascist counselor (Cathy Moriarty), the clinic only drives Lyonne's character toward an attraction to a rebellious tomboy (Clea DuVall), though screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson and director Jamie Babbit are curiously intent on keeping the two apart and depriving the audience of other comic possibilities. Meanwhile, hoary clichés abound: prancing boys, butch gays, lipstick lesbians. Despite a fine cast full of young talent, and cameo appearances by Julie Delpy and RuPaul Charles, this attempt to skewer a present-day trend in "curing" homosexuals of their sexual preferences is flattened by stereotypes and unimaginative thinking. --Tom Keogh
Similar DVD Movies
Saving FaceKRUSIEC,MICHELLE; Release date: 2005-10-18; DVD
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
Lost and DeliriousLions Gate; Release date: 2001-12-11; DVD
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops:
High ArtUniversal Studios; Release date: 2004-07-27; Published: 2004-07-01; DVD
Best price: $8.33
Price in other shops:
Loving AnnabelleWolfe; Release date: 2006-12-12; DVD
Best price: $8.21
Price in other shops:
BoundLions Gate; Release date: 2001-08-14; DVD
Best price: $6.79
Price in other shops:
If These Walls Could Talk 2HBO Home Video; Release date: 2000-10-10; Published: 2000-10-01; DVD
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops:
Better Than ChocolateLions Gate; Release date: 1999-12-28; DVD
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops:
The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in LoveNEW Line Home Video; Release date: 2004-05-04; DVD
Best price: $3.64
Price in other shops:
D.E.B.S. (Special Edition)SONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 2005-06-07; DVD
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops:
Imagine Me & YouFOX; Release date: 2006-06-27; DVD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: