Undercover Cheerleader

Yawn through the character development scenes. Yawn through the build-up. Yawn during the climax. The premise was decent, but the script didn't deliver on it. Reminds me a lot of my first girlfriend: talked a good game, but never really got around to banging.

The name says it all undercover cheerleader so you would expect this to be an expose on cheerleading but you would also expect to see some cheerleading routines in this movie about cheerleading. However this Quasi Nancy Drew type plot has really little to do with cheerleading itself. There is one routine at the end of the movie they indicate their going to try to regain their national championship title however I've seen stronger routines out of a mini or youth group than out of this senior squad movie was entertaining enough if you want a who dunnit type or Nancy Drew type special, however if you want a cheerleading movie like bring it on. Rewatching bring it on

There are too many cliches now in most recent lifetime thrillers. A new girl moves into a new town and starts a new school. Always the main character has a deceased parent. And their surviving parent has such a busy job that they end up going away on business, leaving the teenager alone for a while. More cliche stuff is the change of expectations that make one wonder why it doesn't make much sense. Another typical thing they do in lifetime movies is the killer makes a cup of tea laced with poison! OMG I counted many of these.

Here are my thoughts. Plotwise, it took forever to get something to actually happen. Unlike normal Lifetime movies, the first half hour was closer to Romy and Michele, or Harry Potter, or Nancy Drew, or something like that. The plot synopsis sounded much better than the actual movie. Some scenes had descent acting, other scenes...uh-uh. Such as the pointless pizza scene with the mom. In fact, every scene with the mom hurt. The party scene seemed endless. Typical useless police. On the plus side, the cinematography and music were pretty good.

Autumn Bailey is the new kid at school. She and her mother left New York after the death of her father. She is befriended by Kara who shares a hatred of cheerleaders. Kara recruits her for the school newspaper to go undercover in the cheerleading squad. In addition to mean girls drama, there is more to uncover.

This is a Lifetime TV drama. It's a rather bland mystery drama with various issues. I don't mind the mean girl drama but it's not the most original. The mystery part has its own issue. It needs to be better written. First, Autumn should be the obvious rat of the newbies. She's the new kid at school and they first noticed her when she's talking to the nemesis Kara. The girls are functional actors. The twist is not the most ingenous but it's acceptable. This is flawed but there are worst on Lifetime.