Based on true events, this is the story of high school sophomore Angela Delvecchio, played by Kellie Martin, and popular girl stereotype, Stacey Lockwood, played by the legendary Tori Spelling. Angela lives in a perfect little small town. The opening to the movie feels similar to the opening of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Perfect suburbia with something lurking underneath…. Murder.
The opening continues to unfold with a Scream - Drew Barrymore like murder taking place. And our story unfolds….
One day Angela goes to a pep rally with her bestie Jill. She is moved by the rally’s rousing speech by her principal, Locke from Lost, who is hammering it home to be the best! The best! THE BEST! She decides then and there that being her best means being someone else! The popular girls who must be a precursor to the Plastics, headed by queen bee, Stacey Lockwood. It also means joining not one club or clique, but every club and clique that her popular hero, Stacey, is in.
Angela has an “in” to the cool clique through her friend Jamie, a transfer student from their former catholic high school. Jamie is totally passing in the clique on her good looks and invites Angela to chill with the cool girls. Angela learns that Stacey Lockwood is kind of a cunty judgemental bitch with terrible comebacks. She has a real hard on for ragging on Goth Girl Monica. Back story being that they were once friends, and then Monica…. Changed…. And… developed her own…. Ideas? Wait, what??? That bitch!
Angela begins by telling anyone who will listen how she is going to be super cool popular girl and joining all these clubs all while looking thirsty as helllllll. Her big sister, the weird college vegan played by TV’s Christa Miller, basically tells her to stop it and aim lower. Instead Angela reaches for her dreams and lands a cool girl job in the high school office, instead of in class, with none other than, Stacey Lockwood! OMG you guys it’s all happening!
After much churching, as Angela’s mom is a very strict Catholic, her mother (Valerie Harper) surprisingly allows her to go on a school chaperoned ski trip with all the cool kids. Unfortunately, Angela forgets Cool Girl 101, you have to have a super current wardrobe, and thrifts her way to the ski trip. She should have known, unless you have those Molly Ringwald redesign sewing skills, you can’t be a thrift store queen. This puts her in the likes of Monica the now very angry goth girl. Her friend Jamie gets mad and tells her to stop being poor and weak and do what Stacey says.
Next Angela pledges to The Meadow Larks, a do-gooder service club similar to a sorority, but in high school. (I find myself wonder, when does she actually go to class?) She gets picked to be a Lark. Hooray! Now it seems like Stacey is resentful and dislikes Angela. Meanwhile, Angela seems to be oblivious.
To celebrate their new Larkness, the girls take turns jumping out of a convertible, and kissing random dudes at stop lights, and giggling away. When it’s Angela’s turn, the guy stares at her like she’s a piece of shit, rolls up the window and DRIVES AWAY! The Larks laugh hysterically while Angela goes home muttering about how Stacey Lockwood can do everything.
Angela continues to be a sad thirsty girl and the butt of jokes, but is accepted. Monica the Goth Girl remains the target of the queen bee’s bullying.
Next, poor Angela tries out for cheerleading. She is stiff, uninspired, and clearly has no cheer experience. The perfect Stacey does the same cheer routine next, and delivers virtually the exact same dull performance as Angela but is told she is AMAZEBALLS. Angela is visibly upset as she pouts and glares.
Next Angela goes for yearbook staff, something she’s always done and is known as an excellent writer. Should be a shoe in, right? Wrong! Inexplicably, Angela is kicked to the curb and not picked for yearbook. She freaks out, how can she be the perfect popular best Stepford now!?!
Finally, Angie’s break from reality starts to happen when she is very publicly not picked for cheerleader. Principal Locke from Lost holds an assembly to announce the new school cheerleaders and rub in everyone’s face how much the rest of the students are NOT best. Just these four awesome pretty girls that are not Angela - THEY’RE the BEST! Angela sadly walks home to pout. Her weird college sister picks her up and tries to cheer her up while eating cucumber slices that she is rando slicing in the car with a kitchen knife WHILE BEHIND THE WHEEL! What? Who does that?
Besties Jill and Angela are now getting smashed and make plans to soothe Angelas pain by going to a cool party. Suddenly, Angela comes up with a scheme to invite Stacey to the party and MAKE her be her best friend. Turning from thirsty girl to official stalker, Angela completely lies to everyone to get the unwilling Stacey to meet her and get in the car, making up a story about a special Lark party where “someone” will pick her up. Shit gets super illegal for good little Catholic Angela. Spoilers - the name of the movie will soon come into play!
ATTENTION WORLD: Stacey Lockwood is dead. The whole school mourns and is eager to find out who done it. Detectives start investigating the student body. The high school court of public opinion default to Monica the Goth Girl as the killer and begin tormenting her. Angela watches but does nothing and tries to live with herself and what she did to the popular girl she idolized. Suddenly, everything’s coming up Angie! She’s a cool girl now! Everyone loves her and she even gets a cool guy boyfriend. Her guilt is knocking at her chamber door while she lives her dream. But Detectives Uncle Phil and his partner are starting to sniff her out. Angela is clearly the murderer, but how do you take down someone so young and likable. You let the guilt get to them.
Murderer Angela has a heart to heart with her Mom after confessing in a gut wrenching letter that she’d killed the teenage dream, and wants to take responsibility.All the while she is begging her mother to please don’t give up on her and please don’t stop loving her. She wants to do the right thing and turn herself in. Her mother kind of acts like she forgot to take out the trash and comforts her.
The whole town is torn during the trial of Angela Delvecchio. Did their BE THE BEST Hitler youth rally drive her too far, or did she create an unhealthy obsession with a frenemy that drove her to murder. As the blame is shuffled around, everyone shows up to watch the spectacle of Angela’s trial unfold. This creates an even bigger Heathers vs. Boogers atmosphere. Jamie tells the cool girls off by saying hey, this isn’t like one of your parties. It’s a court of law. Boom! She knows her proper nouns!
The movie ends with Angela’s friends - Jill and Jamie, forgiving her, but not forgetting and Angela embracing her guilt and jail time. Jamie sends letters to Angela and remains her friend, even taking some of the blame for siding with the Plastics instead of her own opinions.
I saw this made for tv movie back when it originally aired in 1994. I remember as a teenager, finding this movie interesting and kind of campy, but weirdly relatable. While everyone else is delivering a typical Lifetime performance, Kellie Martin shines with a very realistic and emotional performance that really makes you actually feel for her. Maybe even routing for her by the end of the film. This is also a tale of a girl who was bullied before bullying was a national campaign. And I can’t help but find the contemporary irony of the be the best speech and the current Be Best first lady project.
On the other end of the spectrum is Valerie Harper, who’s practically TV royalty, delivering an underwhelming performance as Angela’s mother. I really mulled over this one. I just can’t get past this heart felt and scared letter Angela sends to her mother begging for love and support. While the rest of us are feeling heart pangs, Valerie Harper just makes a face and calls for her husband. Where are the tears? Where is the heart ache? Was there a scene cut out where she takes a handful of Xanax to cope?
Death of a Cheerleader has been remade by Lifetime with what looks like none of the emotion and a way more, over the top camp version of the story with a lead actress, who judging solely by the commercial, can’t act beyond whiney teenage girl. Kind of like the weird remake of Mother, May I Sleep With Danger - a movie so meta it swung past camp and back to bad again.
The remake will be premiering on February 2nd on Lifetime, you can still find the original classic on Amazon Prime.
Here’s the breakdown:
The best - Kellie Martin’s acting is perfection
Tori Spelling being Tori Spelling
The perfect blend of engaging and campy
The worst- You thirsty girl!
Valerie Harper is wooden and way underwhelming
Jill - 4 Plisskens Ty - 3.5 Plisskens Matt - 2.5 Plisskens
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