Cheerleader
directed by Irving Franco
starring Catherine Blades and Chris Bert
Mickey (Catherine Blades) is blonde, cute, and willing to make out. She’s still in high school but all her boyfriends all look like they might be in their thirties, but in this film world we’ll just pretend they are age appropriate, even if they ask questions no teenage boy would ever think of. First off their Josh (Michael Campayno), good looking and angry he’s about to graduate but can’t seem to see the future. As Mickey cycles through the cliques at school, she eventually goes out with nerdy Buttons (Chris Bert). He’s actually pretty normal for a guy who will going into either engineering or software; he too asks unlikely questions like “Do you thing we could have worked out?” Her girlfriends are of little help, they seem like “Heathers Lite” and do all the snarky nasty thing teen age girls do. In particular, Barbara (Rachel Beyda) prods Josh into attacking Buttons during a basketball game, but no real damage is done, and then we are through with the drama.
Set it the 1980’s this teen angst film lack the great sound tracks of the teen lust movies made in the day; what little music we hear is rather soft and New Age sounding, and even the fashion somehow don’t seem exactly correct for the era. The story sort of oozes along like life, and while no one does anything terribly out of the realm of reasonable, no one does anything very interesting either. I suspect most young people will see themselves in this drama, but I can’t say it will change anyone’s life.
This film will be shown as a part of the 2016 Florida Film Festival. For tickets, show times and location please visit [www.floridafilmfestival.com](http://www.floridafilmfestival.com)
