BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER Midnights at The Tivoli This Weekend

“She’s just upset because the fish on her plate is the only kind she can eat.”

BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER plays this weekend (August 17th and 18th) at The Tivoli at midnight as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli midnight series.

Natasha Lyonne stars in BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER as Megan Williams, a seemingly normal cheer-leader at her local high-school. However, the posters of Melissa Etheridge on her bedroom wall, her less-than-enthusiastic kisses with her boyfriend plus her enthusiasm for tofu lead Megan’s parents and friends to suspect her of being a lesbian, and she is promptly packed off to True Directions, a ‘Sexual Rehabilitation’ camp led by Cathy Moriarty and an out-of-drag RuPaul. Megan’s not even sure that she is a lesbian, but once at the camp she meets several other gay teens, including Clea DuVall’s Graham… The story may be a simple one, then, but at least BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER  offers something different to the usual slew of teen comedies and, crucially, it doesn’t cop out at the end, either.

It’s also perfectly cast, with Natasha Lyonne playing the slightly-confused Megan to perfection and Clea DuVall turning in another of her trademark ‘moody’ teens. There’s also strong comic support from Cathy Moriarty and RuPaul. There’s even an extended cameo from Michelle Williams, as one of Megan’s fellow cheer-leaders who ‘turns her in’ at the beginning. Stylistically, the film owes a lot to John Waters, with whom it shares the same garish color schemes and costumes – Waters regular, Mink Stole, plays Megan’s mother, just to underline the connection. There’s also a memorably foul-mouthed joke regarding a midnight trip to a colorfully-named nightclub (the film’s best line) that similarly carries the stamp of Waters’ humor. It’s true that BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER is something of a one-joke movie, and is also perhaps a little over-reliant on its collection of stereotypes. However, it makes up for this with its superbly game cast, its impressively garish use of color and its obvious feeling for the subject matter.

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the midnight for the next several weeks:

August 24-25: CRIMSON PEAK

August 31 – Sept. 1: MAD MAX FURY ROAD

Sept 7-8: SPIRITED AWAY

Sept 14-15: THE WITCH

Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there on Fridays with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8. We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned here at We Are Movie Geeks for more updates on the Midnight series!