But I'm a Cheerleader

The aptly misleading title (the theme is flawed assumptions) refers to the refusal of teenage golden girl Megan (Lyonne) to agree with her bible-bashing parents that she's gay. Denial seals her fate: heterosexual conversion therapy under the neurotic tutelage of Mary (Moriarty) and Mike (RuPaul) at True Directions reform school for homosexual youth, a Christian set-up - with single-sex dorms. How far, the film asks, do all things 'masculine' and 'feminine' serve as reliable indicators of sexuality? The more Mary and Mike force models of hetero perfection on their amiable charges, the more their efforts end in glaring extremes of camp. That this doesn't feel like the gender studies lesson it is, is mostly down to the tone of intelligent mischief, punctuated by tender moments when illicit romance beckons. First rate performances all round.