BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER 1999
39%
Directed by Jamie Babbit
Written by Brian Wayne Peterson and Jamie Babbit
Starring Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, Bud Cort, Eddie Cibrian, RuPaul
Synopsis
Cheerleader Megan thinks she’s straight, but her parents send her to a gay conversion camp, where she meets a strong-willed young woman and, ironically, only then begins questioning her sexuality.
Why We Love It
Long before mainstream America was aware that gay children were being sent away to be reprogrammed straight, Jamie Babbit went there with But I’m a Cheerleader. It had made a splash at film festivals because it was the rare queer film that dared to take a comic angle to the pain of being ostracized from your family, friends, and community because of your sexual orientation. For that reason, the film was put under the magnifying glass, expected to be representative of the gay community at large. But what piece of art can handle that pressure?
Critics wanted either a funnier or more dramatic movie but didn’t understand Babbit’s subversive style, which buried real, heavy trauma in cotton-candy colors to make it both more palatable for straight audiences and more cathartic for gay viewers who needed a light laugh after two decades of the AIDS crisis. Gemma Files writing for Film.com said the film was full of “ungainly sentiment and unnecessary stylization,” while Owen Gleiberman writing for Entertainment Weekly went as far as to say, “Any self-respecting lesbian should rear up in horror.” (Note: Gleiberman is not himself a lesbian.) Only Roger Ebert was able to nail just what would make this film so enduringly beloved: “But I’m a Cheerleader is not a great, breakout comedy, but more the kind of movie that might eventually become a regular on the midnight cult circuit. It feels like an amateur night version of itself, awkward, heartfelt and sweet.”
Behind the scenes, Babbit was fighting an uphill battle just to get the film distributed; the MPAA gave it an NC-17 rating, and she had to cut out three innocuous shots whose hetero analogs would swim past the censors with no problems. Those who called for edgier humor in the film likely weren’t aware how thin a line Babbit was walking to get any gay-centric content in the theaters at all. Still, what is there is memorable and even more affecting in hindsight because it’s raw and honest; all the absurd things these characters are saying could have been said in real life.
Even now, twenty years after its release, But I’m a Cheerleader stands as a pioneering achievement in queer cinema, when other filmmakers are just feeling comfortable enough to create works that don’t simply depict the pain of being gay but also the joy of knowing who you are.