Blood, Sweat and Cheer

This was a fun movie in the vein of almost every Lifetime/Tubi film about high school and/or cheer. It didn't try to be Emmy-worthy, too deep, or even sensical, and for that I truly enjoyed it. My only complaint is that the casting was terrible. The lead actress looks great but she could never pass for a teenager, she looks very much like a woman approaching her 40's, so it's hard to believe so many people took her at face value as teenaged Cherie. But then, you look at the casting of the "real" teens of the movie, and you sort of get it. All the actors playing teenagers are clearly in their 20's or older, and it shows. Even the daughter looked nearly the same age as the mom. None of the people who are supposed to be youthful reflect that, they all seem too mature. I wish the casting went with someone like Bianca Lawson (or, to be a little biased here, any good POC actress since most tend to look younger than their age like the old sayings go) to play the role of the mother. That would've been convincing, but I guess some of the campiness and unbelievability would've been lost. Either way, I love over-the-top cheesy films like this, so I could overlook this flaw in a Clark Kent/Superman kinda way to enjoy it.

Of course I had not heard about this 2023 movie titled "Blood, Sweat and Cheer" prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2025. But I have to admit that I wasn't exactly harboring the biggest of expectations to the movie. However, I still opted to watch it, as it was a movie that I hadn't already seen.

Writer Barbara Zagrodnik put together a storyline that was a bit far fetched and implausible. But still proved to be a fair enough movie, as it was a tad out there.

I was not familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list, which was actually something that spoke in favor of the movie, as I enjoy watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen.

Sort of a silly movie, given the storyline, but actually proved entertaining enough for how far out there it was.

My rating of director Traci Hays's 2023 movie "Blood, Sweat and Cheer" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Oh my.. This was like a bad Lifetime cheer movie,with all the bad acting to clichés galore.

The mom(basically)didn't look old enough to have a child that age,than when she tries to pretend she's a teen she looks horrid.

Also who decided for the mom to come across like a teen,she needs to act like a hyper & outdated bimbo.. Who did the wardrobe,hair and thought blonde looked decent on brunette haired females?

Cinematography was ok,but didn't really save this.. Typical soundtrack type stuff,nothing original.

The actors have been seen in other Lifetime roles,which actually were better.

Looking at others who left reviews are obviously involved in this movie,they think this was campy/quirky? Doesn't even deserve those descriptions,attached to this mess. Also saying it was like,Never Been Kissed to Mean Girls? Insulting!

What got me is those feeling,there is potential for a sequel? Lol.

Is this worth a watch? Sure! If you like something bad cheesy,need anything to watch or like actors in this.

Laugh out loud funny, and campy in all the best ways! Chockfull of classic high school movie references from Never been Kissed to Mean Girls (and even a hint of Black Swan), Blood, Sweat and Cheer is a genuinely good time from beginning to end. Traci Hays took a great script and made it even better with the help of a stellar cast and an impressive production value. You can tell everyone on the crew truly enjoyed making this movie.

I will definitely be adding this one to my go-to guilty pleasures watch list. I just hope there's a sequel! I'd love to see what happens to the characters from here and I'm particularly interested in the mother-daughter relationship which only grew more and more complicated as the story progressed.

When this movie started I thought, "Oh, good; a comedy that is going to make fun of the whole "Cheerleader" TVM genre". Certainly the mom posing as a high school girl played it that way, at least at first. But then it devolved into the typical formulaic movie MarVista is known for. Nothing about the movie was even slightly believable. That would have been fine if they had played it that way and gone for a campy comedy. But no. You have the usual plot elements all these movies have, culminating in the usual quick ending with no follow up.

If you read the 10 star reviews here and expect some good campy fun, you are going to be very disappointed.