Latest “Moment of Truth” stanza involves a gutsy high school cheerleader captain who blows the whistle on a swaggering, arrogant quarterback who leads his team on to sexual harassment with the cheerleaders. Whole varsity football team seems to be playing for Reform School High.
Krista Wilson (Sarah Chalke) finds herself at odds with Neanderthal Josh Kelly (Lochlyn Munro), bullying son of a wealthy, powerful lawyer who knows everything and everyone. Josh enjoys his privileges and revels in his you’ve-got-to-be-a-football-hero status.
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Krista’s best friend Ruth (Brigitta Dau), boarding a football team bus to pass out bottled water, gets manhandled badly, and Krista finds out that most of the cheerleaders have been undergoing such treatment. As chief cheerleader, she reports the incident to new coach Peters (Garry Chalk), who lightly talks it over with Josh.
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Josh and his best friend Nelson Boyle (Kirby Morrow) grin and keep on with their tyranny. They corner Krista in the girls’ locker room, and Josh puts the make on her. Director Joseph L. Scanlan gets unduly visually graphic, and a blatant dialogue slip in Natalie Chaidez’s teleplay is unnecessary and offensive.
Krista’s mom, Anne (Shanna Reed), a member of the student council, shifts into action against principleless principal Vicky (Gwynyth Walsh). To complicate matters, Krista’s brother Kyle (Marcus Turner) is on the varsity team with Josh and Nelson et al.
The school superintendent, the police — just about everybody — get into the act. Krista’s firm dad, Ted (Josh Taylor), takes a stand, and a determining plot factor, Josh’s steady girlfriend, nasty Vanessa (Gaetana Korbin), speaks out. Josh, who’s been assembling a “slam book” defining the girls’ pluses and minuses, doesn’t do anything for his reputation.
Chaidez’s surface drama, spilling out like an “Afterschool Special,” has plenty to say but uses heavy gloves to deliver its punch. The cheerleaders don’t stand up for the truth, and the thugs on the team don’t recognize it.
Chalke turns in a flat perf under Scanlan’s routine direction, but Reed’s Anne is peppy and credible, while Dau’s anguished Ruth offers touching moments. Munro’s Josh is overplayed, but Taylor gives a solid account of Krista’s no-nonsense dad.
Tech credits are OK.