These cheerleader movies changed the game.
Sugar & Spice (2001)
Like a little crime with your cheers? The subversive Sugar & Spice, from director Francine McDougall, is about a high school cheerleader who gets pregnant by the star quarterback and, naturally, enlists her fellow cheerleaders to go commit robberies to support her and the baby.
It features a who’s who of early 2000s breakout stars, including Marley Shelton, James Marsden, Marla Sokoloff, Melissa George and Mena Suvari.
It may not be the best-remembered cheerleader movie, but it captures a fun and subversive moment.
Bring It On (1999)
The gold standard of cheerleader movies, Bring It On stars Kirsten Dunst as Torrance, a cheerleader at an upscale San Diego high school who discovers that the school’s previous captain stole all their best routines from a school in East Compton. Gabrielle Union plays her arch nemesis who is… kind of totally in the right?
Eliza Dushku and Jesse Bradford are among those rounding out the cast in this often-imitated but never duplicated early hit by future Ant-Man director Peyton Reid.
The film’s writer, Jessica Bendinger, says she became interested in the idea of cultural appropriation as a music journalist and music video director, specifically as a white creator with a strong love of hip-hop. And she wittily slipped her ideas into a cheerleader movie.
The Replacements (2000)
The Replacements is a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of a bunch of replacement players who fill in when an NFL football team goes on strike.
Keanu Reeves plays the quarterback, and strikes up a connection with head cheerleader Annabelle Farrell (Brooke Langton), who runs an inexperienced (at least at cheerleading) squad.
You can argue that this is more of a football movie than a cheerleader movie, but the cheerleaders steal the film.
Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal (2008)
Lifetime
A made-for-TV cheerlader movie, (thanks Lifetime!) this ripped-from the headlines story follows Jenna Dewan as a cheerleading coach who tries to rein in an unruly band of mean-girl cheerleaders led by Brooke (Ashley Benson).
The reviews were better than you might expect.
Bottoms (2023)
Bottoms director Emma Seligman tells MovieMaker that her film is simply about “teen girls who start a fight club so they can try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders.” It’s a shamelessly funny, keep-you-guessing, anything-for-a-laugh answer to the 200 million movies about teenage boys who make a bet to do such-and-such by the end of the school year, and has a ridiculous amount of fun dismantling expectations.
It’s also packed with rising stars, including Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), co-writer Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby), and Kaia Gerber, Cindy Crawford’s daughter, as the nonplused head cheerleader.
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Lions Gate Films
Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader is a masterpiece of camp, and feels far ahead of its time in its smart mockery of gay conversion therapy. The film follows future Russian Doll and Pokerface star Natasha Lyonne in a fabulously deadpan role as a cheerleader who has no interest in her boyfriend, for some reason.
She’s soon carted off to a Stepford Wives-style home for gay teens, where she ends up, of course, embracing her love of women. It’s smart, knowing and delightful.
Bottoms gives it a very prominent, very well-deserved shoutout.
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
If you like raucous, bawdy, absurdist teen comedies that couldn’t be less worried about offending people, Not Another Teen Movie was made for you.
Among the many movies it parodies — with obvious love — is Bring It On, as the cheerleading team led by Jaime Pressly can’t even be bothered to change the words of the cheers they’re stealing.
Bottoms has a similarly reality-altering silliness to Not Another Teen Movie, and pays it direct homage.
Fired Up! (2009)
Cheerleader movies are supposed to be fun, and Fired Up! embraces silliness at every turn. It’s about two high school jocks who decide to skip football camp to go to cheerleader camp and hit on girls.
Lessons are learned. It’s actually pretty similar to the plot of Bottoms, except the Bottoms protagonists aren’t jocks. Or guys.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Before the TV show with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a rather strange movie in with Valley girl cheerleader Buffy (Kristy Swanson) battles vampires.
The cast of this cheerleader movie alone makes it worth a watch: It features Luke Perry, Rutger Hauer, Donald Sutherland, and Paul Reubens in a defiantly different role than the Pee-wee Herman persona for which the late, great actor was best known.
The TV version of Buffy was creator Joss Whedon’s attempt to redo an idea he felt went a little off-track in execution, but give everyone involved an A for effort.
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
This very witty Karyn Kusama-directed treasure, written by Diablo Cody, follows Megan Fox as a demonically possessed cheerleader who goes on a killing spree.
Can good-girl best friend Amanda Seyfried save the day? Or at least her male classmates?
Transgressive and surprising at every turn, Jennifer’s Body is sensational fun. If you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you’ll almost definitely like Jennifer’s Body, too.
All Cheerleaders Die (2013)
Another supernatural cheerleader movie, All Cheerleaders Die takes seriously the physical perils of cheerleading, but changes the game by reviving a team of dead cheerleaders vis-a-vis Wiccan magic.
Of course, they also carry out a grisly revenge on the football players.
If this one sounds familiar, it’s because the 2013 All Cheerleaders Die is a remake of a lower-budget 2001 film of the same name by same writer-directors, Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson.
Also, the tagline is perfect: “You can’t kill their spirit.”
A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem (2021)
One serious addition: This 2019 documentary by Yu Gu examines the the gender pay gap that is very much a part of the National Football League, and the NFL team’s practice of expecting cheerleaders to be in peak physical condition and meet extreme beauty standards for as little as minimum wage.
A Woman’s Work follows cheerleaders from the Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills, each of whom put their careers on the line to take legal action and fight for fair pay.
It’s not the most fun of the cheerleader movies, but it is the most enlightening.
Thanks for Reading Our List of the Best Cheerleader Movies
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Main image: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 20th Century Studios.