The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom: 1993, dir. Michael Ritchie. Seen on DVD (Oct. 21).
With a title like that, how can you go wrong? I thought this was going to be hilarious. However, although Cheerleader-Murdering Mom is amusing at times, overall it was a little flat.
You might remember the real-life incident: in 1991, a woman in Channelview (a suburb of Houston that smells horrible from refineries) was arrested for attempting to hire a hit man to kill a woman whose daughter was a rival of her own daughter for the cheerleading squad. Her brother-in-law, whom she asked to arrange the hit, turned her in and testified against her. Did Wanda Holloway really intend to kill this woman, or was it all a joke taken amiss?
Holly Hunter plays Wanda Holloway and Beau Bridges plays Terry Harper, her brother-in-law. Swoozie Kurtz is his wife Marla.
This movie didn’t know what it wanted to be. The title would imply that this was a movie with over-the-top characters and crazy stereotypes, like a live-action cartoon. It’s not, but it’s not quite a straightforward telling of the real-life story, either. Swoozie Kurtz’s character is cartoonishly colorful, but this seems a little out of place.
I didn’t ever quite get a feel for who these people were and why they were motivated. Did Wanda really want to have her rival killed? I never completely understood. The characters do things because that’s what happened in real life, not because it makes logical sense in terms of their personalities.
There were funny moments, and it was a treat to watch Holly Hunter and Beau Bridges at times. But for the most part, this movie didn’t live up to its title … or to the real-life events.
Ahhh, yes. I remember Patrick Stewart having to read the name of this movie at some awards show and being extremely amused by the sound of it. Can’t say I’ve ever seen the movie, though.