But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

There's a version of But I'm a Cheerleader that's one of the sharpest films of its era: a savage, funny, properly upsetting skewering of conversion therapy and the suffocating expectations straight America places on queer kids. That version exists in flashes throughout this film. But only in flashes.

Let me be clear about what works, because there's genuine good stuff here. Natasha Lyonne is excellent as Megan, bringing a wide-eyed bewilderment to her character that keeps you rooting for her even as the world around her turns increasingly absurd. And RuPaul, playing the flamboyantly sinister camp leader Mike, is an absolute joy every single time he's on screen. There's something beautifully pointed about casting RuPaul in that role, and the film knows it. The central critique, that institutions exist to bully queer teenagers into performing a version of themselves they'll never actually be, remains painfully relevant. The subject matter hasn't dated a day, and I won't pretend otherwise.

But here's where I struggle. The aesthetic choices that the film commits to so fully, the blinding pinks and blues, the exaggerated set design, the performances pitched somewhere between a school pantomime and a 90s Nickelodeon sitcom, create a distancing effect that I couldn't shake. At times it reminded me of something like Clarissa Explains It All wandering into genuinely dark territory without quite deciding what it wants to do when it gets there. That tonal uncertainty is the film's biggest problem. Are we watching biting satire? A surreal parody? A coming-of-age teen comedy? The film never fully commits to an answer, and the result is that each mode undercuts the others.

Camp as a tool can be devastatingly effective. It can expose the ridiculousness of social norms precisely by exaggerating them until they collapse under their own weight. But camp only really lands when there's a consistent internal logic holding it together. Here, the cartoonish presentation too often softens what should sting. When characters who are meant to represent genuine cruelty or systemic harm are rendered as broad caricatures, they stop being threatening and start being silly in a way that drains the tension out of the room. Some of the supporting characters feel like cardboard cutouts rather than people, and that matters because the film is asking us to feel the weight of what's being done to Megan and the other kids at that camp.

It's a film I find easier to admire than to love, if I'm being honest. I can see what it's reaching for. I can appreciate that it was doing something genuinely bold for 1999, taking aim at institutions that most mainstream cinema was happy to ignore entirely. If you're interested in how queer stories were being told around that period, it's worth pairing with something like Shinjuku Boys (1995), which handles its subject matter with a very different register but a similarly empathetic eye. The comparison is instructive.

What I keep coming back to is that the quirky surface and the serious subject matter never quite find a way to coexist comfortably. The moments where the film's emotional truth breaks through, and there are some, feel almost accidental, like the sincerity has slipped through a gap in the costume. A sharper editorial hand, or a firmer tonal commitment one way or the other, might have made this the classic its reputation suggests. As it stands, it's a well-intentioned, culturally significant, and intermittently funny film that stops short of greatness.

Three stars.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 1999  | Watched: 2026-04-08

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads · Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: fuboTV · Philo · MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel · Howdy Amazon Channel
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Physical: Amazon US

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