But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) on Netflix
Megan is a cheerleader who does not enjoy kissing her boyfriend. Her parents suspect she is a lesbian and send her to True Directions, a camp that promises to make her straight.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.9/1053,400 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes41%
Trailer
Plot summary
Megan Bloomfield is a cheerleader at her high school. She dates Jared, a football player, but she avoids kissing him on the mouth. Her parents, Peter and Nancy, worry that she may be a lesbian, and with help from her friends they hold an intervention led by Mike, who works for the camp True Directions. The camp promises a two-month program that will make its attendees straight. Megan denies that she is a lesbian, but her parents send her there. Mary J. Brown, the director, keeps strict rules. Megan meets Graham Eaton, along with Hilary, Sinead, Clayton, Dolph, Jan, Andre and Joel, and takes part in the program's tasks.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jamie Babbit initially considered Arsenio Hall for the character of Mike, but Hall was uncomfortable playing a gay role; as Mike, RuPaul made a rare appearance out of drag.
- Babbit, whose mother runs a halfway house called New Directions for young people with drug and alcohol problems, wanted to make a comedy about rehabilitation and the 12-step program, and combined that with an article she read about a man who returned from a reparative therapy camp hating himself.
- The MPAA rating board first gave the film an NC-17; to get a commercially viable R, Babbit removed a two-second shot of Graham's hand sweeping Megan's clothed body, a camera pan of Megan's body when she is masturbating, and a line about oral sex.
- Babbit was interviewed by Kirby Dick for his 2006 documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which argues that films with homosexual content are treated more stringently than heterosexual ones; Babbit said she felt discriminated against for making a gay film.
- Not feeling qualified to write the script herself, Babbit brought in screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson, a recent USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate who had experience of reparative therapy while working at a prison clinic for sex offenders and wanted the film to anger people as well as entertain them.
- Rosario Dawson was also considered for Megan, but an executive producer argued that Dawson, who is Hispanic, would not be right for the All-American character.
