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Original film poster
A half-length portrait of a young woman with long hair, wearing a bright pink formal dress and satin gloves. Behind her at a distance five cheerleaders in orange cheer-leading outfits perform cheer-leading maneuvers whilst falling through a bright blue sky. Across the portrait reads, in green, "But I'm a Cheerleader", and below, in smaller letters, "A Comedy of Sexual Disorientation". At the top of the picture, in small letters are the names "Natasha Lyonne, Clea Duvall, Rupaul Charles and Cathy Moriarty".
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| Name | But I'm a Cheerleader | | Directed by | Jamie Babbit | | Produced by | Leanna Creel
Andrea Sperling | | Written by | Screenplay:
Brian Wayne Peterson
Story:
Jamie Babbit | | Starring | Natasha Lyonne
Cathy Moriarty
RuPaul
Clea DuVall | | Music by | Pat Irwin | | Cinematography | Jules Labarthe | | Editing by | Cecily Rhett | | Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment | | Release date | Toronto Film Festival:
September 12, 1999
United States:
July 7, 2000
Australia:
November 16, 2000
United Kingdom:
April 13, 2001 | | Running time | 85 minutes | | Country | | | Language | English | | Budget | US$1,000,000 | | Gross revenue | US$2,595,216 (worldwide) |
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'But I'm a Cheerleader' is a 1999 satirical romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, an apparently happy heterosexual high school cheerleader. However, her friends and family are convinced that she is a homosexual and arrange an intervention, sending her to a residential inpatient reparative therapy camp to cure her lesbianism. At camp, Megan soon realizes that she is indeed a lesbian and, despite the therapy, gradually comes to embrace this. The supporting cast features Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, RuPaul, Mink Stole and Bud Cort.
But I'm a Cheerleader was Babbit's first feature film. It was inspired by an article about conversion therapy and her childhood familiarity with rehabilitation programs. She used the story of a young woman finding her sexual identity to explore the social construction of gender roles and heteronormativity. The costume and set design of the film highlighted these themes using artificial textures in intense blues and pinks.
When it was initially rated as NC-17 by the MPAA, Babbit made cuts to allow it to be re-rated as R. When interviewed in the documentary film This Film Is Not Yet Rated Babbit criticized the MPAA for discriminating against films with homosexual content. The film was not well received by critics who compared it unfavorably to the films of John Waters and criticized the colorful production design. The lead actors were praised for their performances but some of the characters were described as stereotypical.
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