Lifetime Original Movies, and Lifetime thrillers in particular, are their own genre. Some are surprisingly sincere and worthwhile, some are fun despite their ridiculousness, and then there are those that are so over the top that they become laugh riots. I entered 'Killer cheer mom' with high hopes, but I admit that it doesn't seem to fall into any of the above categories. It's both too overt and preposterous to be taken seriously, and too serious to extract meaningful jest from it. For whatever minor points of earnest storytelling and realism there may be herein, more so than not the narrative is entirely too forced and phony to bear fruitful entertainment. There are some good ideas, but the end result just can't quite cut it in any regard.
Are the flourishes of high school pressures, making new friends, small talk, young love, and the stress of a new family and new surroundings perfectly honest and authentic? Or are these stereotypical to the point of being bland and heavy-handed? The latter definitely describes the characterization of Amanda, who yearns so deeply for her step-daughter's affection - and who, like so many Lifetime antagonists, is marked above all by one particular trait that's overblown and rather serves to misrepresent or even demonize a certain segment of the population. And - poor Denise Richards, she tries and does her best with the material she's given, yet her role is pointedly contrived, and her performance likewise comes across as fake, and trying too hard.
But, dear me, that's just the start. The course of events, the dialogue, the way characters are written and the sparing intelligence they're provided, the scene writing: there is nothing about Anna White's screenplay that carries significant genuineness. The direly conspicuous circumstances surrounding Riley's tryouts for the cheer team are played out with overwhelming, obvious artifice. We're treated to astoundingly simplified cut-and-paste video editing, monumentally easy Google searches, gullibility and naivete in every character that defies all reason, and more. The connective threads between story beats, the way many scenes are played out - especially when any manner of danger or violence is involved - and the small corner that the cast are forced into to inhabit their parts are thin, weak, and break suspension of disbelief. Like star Richards, everyone else among the assembled actors make a commendable effort to bring these figures and each passing moment to life - but White's writing, and Randy Carter's overzealous editing and brusque direction, substantially dampen what I think they may have been able to contribute otherwise. I'd like to see them all in other movies to see what they're capable of; would that they had such an opportunity here.
In fairness, it's not all bad. Again - there are some good ideas here, and the picture that we get serves as a suitable diversion in the same way that any concoction of light and sound may. Why, despite all the incredulous plot development and a fair amount of ham-handedness, in the last act we're finally treated to a greater sense of thriller urgency befitting the genre this feature tries to play in. In one late scene especially, taking place in Riley's bedroom - the lighting and camerawork, combined with a delightfully strong delivery from Richards that exceeds the bounds of the movie's construction, makes for a singular instance of outstanding, stimulating energy that's mostly borne through to the end. However, otherwise 'Killer cheer mom' is at best inconsistent, with the flimsy writing standing out more than anything else as an element that needed to be considerably tightened. The concept is fine for the B-grade content Lifetime churns out, but this specific title is overfull with pretense and manufactured drama that couldn't exist outside the confines of the screenplay. Whatever other shortcomings the film may bear, that is surely its primary flaw.
You could do a lot worse. Lifetime movies are easily mocked, and not entirely without good reason, but they still stand as tall as titans compared to far too many other pictures out in the world. Importantly, I've seen some that I've earnestly enjoyed. If you come across this one in particular, it's a decent enough way to spend 90 minutes - but one should certainly be prepared for all the indelicacies the cable network is infamous for. 'Killer cheer mom' is ultimately pretty average, which isn't the worst thing to be; the issue is simply that it didn't have to be this way.
