Killer Cheer Mom (2021 TV Movie) User Reviews

A very bland, generic and predictable TV movie thriller...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 24 October 2021]

I must admit that when I sat down to watch this 2021 Lifetime TV thriller, I wasn't really expecting a whole lot. But with it being a new movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I took the time to sit down and watch it. Who knew, perhaps it would be an interesting thriller.

Yeah, hardly so, as writer Anna White and director Randy Carter just managed to deliver a bland and generic storyline and movie. The movie was just using every single generic trope that has been seen and done in many other thrillers before it, and more often than not, done far better. And the fact that "Killer Cheer Mom" was rather predictable just didn't really do much to lift up the overall movie experience.

Sure, the storyline told here was fair enough for a thriller of this magnitude. However, you shouldn't go about thinking you'll be in for a grand movie experience when you sit down to watch "Killer Cheer Mom" though, then you'll be sorely mistaken and disappointed. The movie was watchable, but that was about it, because as a thriller it was bland, generic and not a memorable one at that.

The acting in the movie was adequate, again taking into consideration the type of thriller that this is. Of course it is Denise Richards that is the lure for dragging in the audience here. And while I am not a particular fan of hers, then I will say that "Killer Cheer Mom" was not among her best of movies.

I am rating "Killer Cheer Mom" a generous four out of ten stars. I managed to sit through this generic thriller, but it is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, nor is it a thriller that I would recommend for fans of the thriller genre.

Not all bad, but sadly middling and overly inauthentic

[I_Ailurophile · 5/10 · 18 February 2022]

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.

Poor acting

[zara-jane-qadry · 4/10 · 24 October 2021]

The acting in this movie is as lame as the tittle. The stepdaughter over acts.. The dad is stiff like a robot. The only one person who acted well enough is denice ricjards.. You can see this movie just to laugh at the acting.

Another,cheesy cheer movie.

[ts-0000 · 29 August 2021]

What was up with Denise Richards mouth/lips? It was rather distracting,anytime she talked.

Nothing original or fun,basically purely clichéd.

Ok cinematography,but wasn't something that saved it for watching again.

Awful excepting some performances

[swavnasahoo · 2/10 · 1 September 2021]

The acting is awful. Sadly, the botox fest is as awful. Nice try from Riley and Cooper actors. Cooper did the best followed by Riley's best friend. Amanda's actor is great too. But man. Why the botox.

The execution sucks. And the tone deaf cut to high school cheer music after a close to murder scene was just mind numbingly dumb.

Big plastic surgery film

[nightroses · 3/10 · 5 September 2021]

A nice thriller with evil stepmother trying to interfere in the cheerleading squad just so her step daughter enters. The step mother and also the police detective lady have really badly done faces. It makes the film look so plastic!

Botox Lips Killer

[hoops-53436 · 2/10 · 31 December 2022]

Well, it was worse than anticipated, where should I begin? Poor Denise Richards, a lifetime of Botox has rendered her almost hideous to look at and that makes it even more difficult to watch.

The plot was way over the top, even for LMN- totally unbelievable. No, I don't expect box office hits on LMN, but at least some level of believability would be appreciated.

The guy who played the father was a real tool, and married a woman that he knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT- but yet believed her over his daughter who he had known for, what- like 17-18 years?

A couple of bright spots were Courtney Fulk and Holly J Barrett (recognized her from her cameo on Young Sheldon.)

Denise Richards is a badass in this movie!

[Chartreuse1 · 7/10 · 5 September 2021]

High school student Riley wants to try out for cheer but she's not good enough, yet! Amanda, her step-mom, is going to fix that and will stop at nothing to make sure she gets one of the few spots left!! This was a very good Lifetime movie and since we see Amanda drive off at the end, we need a sequel!!!

Amazing

[jas-cenn-chargers · 5/10 · 4 March 2023]

The movie "Killer Cheer Mom" is an intense mystery drama set in a new town. After moving to a new city, Riley (played by Courtney Fulk) auditions for the high school cheer squad to make new friends. However, when students start getting expelled or injured under mysterious circumstances, Riley becomes suspicious of her stepmother (played by Denise Richards) and her possible involvement.

Although I enjoyed all the characters, Amanda stands out as my favorite because of her determination to have a loving family.

I absolutely loved watching this movie! The storyline is gripping and had me on edge from beginning to end. I highly recommend it to all thriller fans! In conclusion, "Killer Cheer Mom" deserves a 5-star rating.

Well was not what I expected.

[cjgravel87 · 7/10 · 16 October 2021]

I did not think it was going to be bad but did not think it would actually be this good. Very different seing Denise Richards in this more serious and more intense kind of chararcter role ...and she did amazing really impressed. The story Was very well paeced was no part in the movie that was dull or in there just to fill time .Overall very good movie as all of these movies though plot becomes clear early on but that does not take away from the good story and film.

It's decent

[calvinharrisq · 10/10 · 29 October 2021]

I Don't understand why people are comparing this to theatre level movies. These TV films have low budget and strict runtime. There's a lot going on here because people expect more from these movies of this genre since they're used to box office film productions. Denise is a legend who was always sexualized by Hollywood and had some controversy. But you can't deny her acting chops She's definitely at her best. Other than that the others did great Riley Chloe and the black girl who has the first dialogue in the movie she was really natural actress. Others were just too much like the father was a bit overacting and sometimes good the cooper guy was okay little old looking shawn mendes guy. Overall I'd say i expected more from the climax bud they had less cast so they did whatever they could with what they had. It was decent watch.

Excellent teen lifetime thriller!

[kyleallencole9 · 6/10 · 30 August 2021]

The first film in Lifetime's annual Fear the Cheer lineup is a good one.

Denise Richards was excellent as the main deranged antagonist in this one.

She plays a woman who changes her identity and married to a widower who has a teenage daughter.

After they move to a new town to get away from her murderous past, she decides she will do whatever it takes to get her stepdaughter onto the cheerleaders squad even if that means destroying the girls competition. She does this to ensure they stay there and do not move back to the city where she is a suspect in a murder.

This one has a pretty good climatic ending also when the girl has a showdown with her killer stepmother.

The case for not liking cheerleaders

[haroot_azarian · 31 August 2023]

Since I am sick of the pathetic American culture of cheerleading, fraternity and sorority cullture, because I find they are all nothing but tools to make shallow friendships and possible future careers.

Since I make this harsh statement, I thought I would Google something on cheerleaders. I asked Google to find me former cheerleaders that have impacted the world and I only found three, well if you count Mitt Romney as having impacted anything let alone the world. The other two historically impostant figures were Dwight D Eisenhower and Franklyn D Roozevelt. We do not need to go into detail on how they impacted the world, but they did.

Other than that the long list just included singers, actors and actresses reality TV people, which I strongly argue none of them impacted the world. Oh none of the Beatles or the King himself Elvis were cheerleaderrs.

OK enough on why I am sick of seeing stupid childish cheerleader based LMN movies.

Now to the story, not much to say about it apart from lots of botox and liposuction and maybe some plastic surgery on.granma Richards. The formula was your basic obsession on making the team, but in this case the obsessed person happened to be psycho stepmommy Richards.

Thomas Calabro's performance in this was even worse than the only other LMN movie I have seen him, til Lies Do Us Apart. But in this one he is absolutely worse. He plays (perfectly because I think in real life he is pretty much like that) the clueless happy-go-lucky dad who worships his new wife Richards, after all he hadn't got any since his wife died.

And Riley's interest Cooper whose sister incidentally is the cheer captain said it perfectly: I think it's a stupid sport.

Anyway I rest my case. I am sure American contributors are going to go ballistic on my review! :)

And all the urgency and enthusiasm to be in a cheerleading team is just ridiculous.

very good

[kcohen-25701 · 10/10 · 29 August 2021]

Very good movie I LOVE IT A HOLE LOT THAT WAS A GREAT STORY.