2.5 Stars

I rented this due to my slightly unhealthy obsession with Jena Malone; unfortunately ‘Cheaters’ didn’t do justice to her or Jeff Daniels competent performances. The first half is full of motivational speeches and excuses on why cheating is acceptable for a bunch of down trodden, under privileged city kids with a chip on their shoulder, backed by cheesy dance tracks; it does occasionally feel like something off MTV. But the real problem I found was the characters were so under written by the time they had already decided to cheat in the Decathlon State Championship that I failed to sympathise with them or see they’re reasoning.

The second half of the film is far more enjoyable and gets its message across more successfully, still this is trash but thanks to my girl Jena; watchable trash.