Best Cheerleading Movies: 12 Films From Sports Drama to Comedy

Looking for cheerleading movies? Start with Bring It On for competition-focused comedy, Backspot for a more serious look at competitive cheer, and Poms for a lighter sports comedy. Cheerleading also appears as the setting for satire, horror and crime films, so not every title below is a realistic portrayal of the sport.

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12 Cheerleading Movies Worth Knowing

This is a curated list rather than a claim that every cheer-related film is equally good or equally realistic. We kept titles where cheerleading is central to the story, team culture or visual identity, and separated sports-focused films from movies that mainly use cheerleading as a setting.

1. Bring It On (2000)

The best-known cheerleading film centers on a champion high-school squad that discovers its routines were copied from another team. It mixes competition, team politics and teen comedy, and remains the clearest mainstream starting point for this genre.

2. Backspot (2024)

A sports drama built around competitive cheer, ambition and the pressure of earning a place on an elite squad. It is a stronger choice for viewers who want cheerleading treated as an athletic discipline rather than just a school backdrop.

3. Poms (2019)

A comedy-drama about women in a retirement community forming a cheerleading squad. The appeal is less about elite competition and more about participation, friendship and challenging assumptions about age.

4. Going for Gold (2018)

A family sports drama about a teenager who joins a high-school cheerleading team after moving to Australia. It is one of the more straightforward youth-sport entries on this list.

5. Fired Up! (2009)

A broad teen comedy set around cheer camp. It uses cheerleading heavily, but viewers looking for realistic sport culture should treat it as comedy rather than instruction or documentary-style representation.

6. Sugar & Spice (2001)

A crime comedy in which a group of cheerleaders become involved in a bank-robbery plot. Cheer identity is central to the film’s style, although the story is intentionally exaggerated.

7. But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

Jamie Babbit’s satire stars Natasha Lyonne as a teenager sent to a conversion-therapy programme after her family suspects she is gay. Cheerleading is part of the character’s identity and the film’s visual language rather than a competition storyline.

8. All Cheerleaders Die (2013)

A supernatural comedy-horror film built around a high-school cheer squad. It belongs here as a cheer-themed genre film, not as a realistic depiction of competitive cheer.

9. Jennifer’s Body (2009)

A horror-comedy in which Megan Fox plays a high-school cheerleader. Cheerleading is a character and school-culture marker rather than the subject of the film.

10. Cheerleader Camp (1988)

A slasher set at a remote cheerleading camp, starring Betsy Russell, Leif Garrett and Lucinda Dickey. It represents the horror side of cheer-themed cinema rather than sports drama.

11. Man of the House (2005)

A comedy-crime film in which a Texas Ranger protects a group of cheerleaders who witnessed a murder. Cheerleading provides the ensemble setting, while the main plot is law-enforcement comedy.

12. Step Sisters (2018)

A college dance comedy about step competition. It is not a pure cheerleading film, but it overlaps with the performance-team audience that often searches this category, so it is best treated as an adjacent pick rather than a core cheer movie.

Which Cheerleading Movie Should You Watch First?

• For competition and team rivalry: Bring It On.
• For a serious competitive-cheer story: Backspot.
• For a family sports story: Going for Gold.
• For an older-adult participation story: Poms.
• For satire: But I’m a Cheerleader.
• For horror: All Cheerleaders Die, Jennifer’s Body or Cheerleader Camp.

Movies vs Real Competitive Cheer

Films often exaggerate rivalry, danger and team culture for entertainment. Competitive cheer itself is a structured sport with trained athletes, routines, judging and governing organizations. For the sport question and its Olympic-recognition status, see Is Cheerleading a Sport?

Takeaway

Bring It On remains the obvious gateway cheerleading movie, while Backspot is a better modern choice for viewers interested in the pressures of competitive cheer. The rest of the list shows how widely cheerleading has been used across comedy, drama, satire and horror.