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BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER Send This Review to a Friend
Bigots who think gays can be converted into heterosexuals are ridiculed in "But I'm a Cheerleader," a fairly funny send-up structured around the idea that youth showing gay tendencies should be sent to a re-education camp where they can be indoctrinated with heterosexuality. Jamie Babbit makes a substantial directorial debut from a screenplay by Brian Wayne Peterson
Natasha Lyonne deftly plays Megan, a high school cheerleader whose behavior arouses the anxieties of her parents, and off she goes to "True Directions," the camp run by a super-strict and super-homophobic woman played with hilarious exaggeration by Cathy Moriarty. Mike, who is assigned to take Megan to the camp, is portrayed amusingly by RuPaul Charles, here out of drag queen dress. Other cast members include Clea Duvall, Michelle Williams, Mink Stole, Bud Cort, Eddie Cibrian, Kip Pardue, Richard Moll and Julie Delpy.
The boys at the rehab center are made to learn such "macho" tasks as chopping wood and heterosexual relationships are applauded. But at night the gang likes to sneak off to a gay disco. It is all nose-thumbing humor, and much of it is funny. The film is far from a masterpiece, but it is an amusing and pointed antidote to the prejudices and misconceptions that still permeate our society. A Lions Gate Films release.
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