But I’m a Cheerleader – Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
Jamie Babbit’s cult 1999 romantic satire But I’m a Cheerleader. follows all-American high school cheerleader, Megan (Natasha Lyonne) who comes home one day to find herself the subject of an intervention. Her friends and family suspect that she’s a lesbian, you see, and she’s quickly packed off to a conversion therapy camp. It’s there that she meets and falls for Graham (Clea DuVall), a rebellious girl also forced to into attendance by her family. Together they set out to cause trouble and challenge the camp’s harmful anti-gay doctrine.
It’s a scenario strikingly similar to Desiree Akhavan’s 2018 The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but Babbit’s 90s film opts for a broad, absurdist approach. Featuring RuPaul Charles in a supporting role as a camp counselor (“I myself was once a gay.”), Babbit soaks her film in intense pinks, yellows and blues, using colour to both highlight the ridiculous nature of the camp and reflect the size of the personalities straining to escape. There were perhaps predictably mixed reviews on release, but But I’m a Cheerleader has been earning fans ever since, developing into a cult object thanks to its singular comedic approach to difficult subject matter.
But I’m a Cheerleader is available on Amazon Prime with a subscription, or for a one off cost of £2.49.
