But I'm a Cheerleader , an audience favorite on this year's film festival circuit, including the San Francisco and Los Angeles gay and lesbian film festivals. But while gay viewers have embraced the film, the national critics have been less than kind. As a comedy, Cheerleader is certainly a disappointment. Yet, the positive response the film is generating from its queer audiences most likely has do with what Babbit and Peterson are saying about gender and sexuality rather than the way in which they say it.
Cheerleader exposes gender and sexual desire as social performances learned over time.
Though behaving like proper girls and boys has little effect on Megan and the other patients, they still pretend that they are actually heading down the path to heterosexuality. Unfortunately, the comedy paving that illusory path lacks an edge. The jokes about the five-step rehabilitation program are strained. The guys learn to engage in stereotypical manly behavior, like learning to fix a car, throw a football, and play army. The women spend most of their time boning up on their domestic skills, like vacuuming the floor and taking care of babies.