Satan Reviews- Films: But I'm a Cheerleader

But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

Drama film/Comedy-drama

1h23m

Spoilers

One night this week (and by this week I mean quite a while ago because I decided to take and age to finish this) I was a little ill and was struggling to get to sleep, so I decided to watch a film... from the 90's (i.e. from before I was born).

This is a cute, satirical, coming of age film about love, being true to yourself, and conversion therapy. That time old classic combination.

Something I like about this film is that it's made by gay people for gay people so it's an interesting mix of slight stereotypes that aren't used offensively. Because there's not always anything wrong with using stereotypes as long as they're done right.

This film as pretty poor ratings online (if you don't count IMDB as it's hard for anything to even get 5/10 on there) and I can't see why. It has funny moments and isn't pretentious or preachy considering the technically serious subject matter. It's not exactly laugh-out-loud funny but, in my opinion, rom-coms rarely are; it definitely received some exhales through the nose and the occasional snort.

The romance between Megan and Graham is sweet and goes at a nice steady pace. It's a good example of the "enemies" to lovers trope (I'm using enemies as a very loose term as they didn't get on at first but weren't as bad as trying to kill each other), which I can get behind when it's done well. I.e. one hasn't done something horrific to the other *cough* Reylo is not a good example of enemies to lovers and y'all can fight me on that even if I've never watched Star Wars*cough*.

The last scene where Megan cheers for Graham's heart is cute and heart-warming and all that nauseating stuff that's tolerable in small amounts. I'd say it's pretty iconic and is kinda foreshadowed earlier in the film when Graham said that she'd like to see Megan cheer or something like that I saw this film weeks ago.

I loved the older gay couple. It was nice to see older characters who had been through True Directions, ignored its teachings and didn't change themselves. Even if it meant that they'd get regularly harassed by the conversion camp. And with this couple and Rupaul's character, the message of "conversion therapy is shit and doesn't work at all" is blatantly said throughout the film.

Would I watch this film again? Quite probably. It's fun, has a good pace and not a terrible way to spend an hour and a half.

Would I recommend it to others? I don't really know. It was recommended to me by a friend and by recommended I mean at one point it was all she would talk about. It has a 90's charm to it that I don't think everyone can appreciate but can also be hyped to death and used to ignore a film's faults.