They’re prodigious athletes, performing in white boots and wide smiles for small paychecks.

Follow this authorKathleen Parker's opinions

These are two tough broads, which I’m allowed to call them since we’re talking about adult cheerleaders. Director Kelli Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell are both former cheerleaders and mature beauties who push their girls to perfection. They have passion, humor, enormous curlers, grace under pressure, uncompromising dedication to excellence, and blunt, if sometimes cruel, things to say to girls who don’t kick high enough, aren’t peppy enough or have their mascara wrong.

The documentary makes clear that most of the cheerleaders are dancers, and all are superb athletes. Ten were new recruits, the rest veterans, who have to re-audition each season. Two were daughters of former Dallas cheerleaders. Only a few weren’t from the South. One who hailed from California had a steep learning curve when it came to applying makeup. (I’m pretty sure the Southern girls had been wearing it since they were toddlers.)

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There’s no pretending otherwise: Their job is to arouse the crowd, using their bodies for maximum sexual effect while wearing the iconic short shorts, white boots and midriff blouses. But you get the feeling they’re play-acting the way little girls might prance in front of a mirror, pretending to be Taylor Swift. They’re shocked when a photographer touches one of them “inappropriately,” as though there were another way. The squad has a strict “no-touch” policy. Male fans who pose for photos with them are handed a footfall to hold between their paws.

In addition to performing at games, the cheerleaders visit nursing homes and children’s hospitals and, not the least of their responsibilities, just try to “give people hope and happiness.” They’re a multimillion-dollar business for the football franchise, but their pay, according to one former cheerleader, is comparable to a full-time worker’s at Chick-fil-A.

Some online commenters upset by the pay inequity have urged the cheerleaders to unionize. Others have been infuriated by the plain exploitation of women in tiny togs for the entertainment of the grandstands of America’s most macho sport. But the cheerleaders say it’s a privilege to wear the uniform. Some credit God’s grace for their being in Dallas.

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I was struck by the wide-eyed innocence of the featured cheerleaders, most of whom were in their early 20s. A standout is Reece, who is engaged to Will, her college sweetheart and not her match in any........

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