Sightlines · reception
How But I'm a Cheerleader was received
2000 · Jamie Babbit · But I'm a Cheerleader on Sightlines
The arc
Critics in 2000 mostly shrugged — too broad, too campy, trying too hard to be John Waters, they said. Two decades on it's been fully reclaimed as a foundational queer classic, complete with a 20th-anniversary director's cut and think-pieces admitting the critics got it wrong.
What’s debated
The enduring debate is whether the original reviews were simply homophobic-adjacent — fans argue straight critics panned the very camp artificiality that queer audiences instantly understood as the point.
Its footprint
The Barbie-pink-and-blue world of True Directions is one of the most instantly recognizable aesthetics in queer cinema — endlessly referenced in Pride moodboards, drag, and pop visuals — and RuPaul out of drag in an 'ex-gay' polo shirt remains an iconic casting punchline.
Where it stands
A cult object turned canon climber: a fixture of 'essential queer cinema' lists and a genuine Letterboxd favorite, especially as the film that cemented Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall as a beloved on-screen duo.
Did you know? The MPAA originally slapped the film with an NC-17, forcing Babbit to trim it to an R — she later called out the double standard (this in the same year American Pie got an R) in the ratings-board exposé documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated.
Named by the director
- John Waters — Babbit cited Waters' camp sensibility as a touchstone, while insisting her film deliberately lacks his 'bite.'
- David LaChapelle — She named LaChapelle's hyper-saturated pop photography as a key influence on the film's plastic technicolor look.
- Edward Scissorhands (1990) — Babbit called it 'a really big influence' on the film's artificial candy-colored suburbia.