Director- Jamie Babbit
Starring- Natasha Lyonne, Michelle Williams, Ru Paul
High school cheerleader Megan (Lyonne) is sent to a homosexual "rehabilitation" camp after her parents suspect her of being gay. Within the camp she meets and interacts with characters representing different stereotypes of homosexuality, which include even the counselors.
She also learns about gender roles in American society and where her place is apparently supposed to be within them. The girls all have to wear pink, the boys blue. The girls have to learn to cook and take care of babies, the boys have to play football and hunt.
When the rehabilitants are instructed to buddy up for some of the exercises, Megan is paired up with Kimberly (Williams), a not-quite-goth with an attitude. The attraction is quick but subtle, but the more Megan tries to focus on rehabilitating her sexuality, the more she finds herself thinking about Kimberly.
One night the rehabilitants, with the aide of two older ex-rehabilitants, escape from the camp and spend the evening at a gay club. After a close dance and a forbidden kiss, Megan runs off, confused about her feelings.
There were some cookie-cutter plot points in this movie, but they were worked out pretty smoothly and one event flowed into another as we saw more into the personalities behind the stereotypes. The family life and biases are also revealed when the parents of the campers come to visit.
The sexual innuendo wasn't by any means restricted to Freudian humor within the lines spoken by the characters, it was also vry visual, from the tight jean shorts worn by some of the counselors to the phallic imagery visible...well, everywhere in the film.
Natasha Lyonne, as usual, takes on a difficult part and runs screaming with it. The result is great acting and convincing emotions. She also has the abililty to take something like masturbation out of the hands of a female porn star and make it (without showing detail, of course) look believable and human.
It's a little disappointing that it turns out to be just another teen love story (thoug one with a slight twist), but not surprising. At least the acting was well-done and the symbolic cinematography was excellent.
Rating: 3/5 Bonedaddies
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