Pomme et cannelle

Buried on both sides of the Atlantic by "Bring It On" (the latter didn't duplicate its American box office success in the UK, but at least it got to cinemas), it's to the credit of "Sugar & Spice" that there's a big difference between the two in terms of plot, characters and overall feel - okay, they are both about cheerleaders but are they really cut from the same cloth on that count? As an American journalist wrote about Stephen J. Cannell, the only real similarity between "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "The Greatest American Hero" is that both shows involve flying.

That said, this movie is still the lesser one. One of the problems are that writer Mandy Nelson and director Francine McDougall don't seem too sure about what kind of tone it should have; it seems to want to be darker but can't summon up the nerve, its characters veer from one-note (particularly Cleo, the Conan O'Brien obsessive) to semi-real (Diane, the cheerleader captain whose unwed mother plight launches the plot), and having the movie be narrated in flashback by a rival rule-obsessed girl suggests we'll be seeing it from her POV, but it's not until some way into the story that she actually plays any kind of a role.

The movie's intentionally uncomfortable to watch, but also never especially funny - and it doesn't help that with the exception of Alexandra Holden as Fern, most of the cast aren't too believable as teenagers (and why do so many of them have first or last names that begin with the letter M? Marla Sokoloff, Marley Shelton, Melissa George [who, incidentally, I thought was playing Diane until the credits set me right], Mena Suvari, Sara Marsh...). It passes the time, and at least it's short - and give the makers credit for not trying to gloss over problems of young couples - but Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku are ultimately the short-skirt-wearers of choice in this milieu.

"Sugar & Spice" could have used more of both parts of its title.

This is a smart movie about dumb people – but don't let that get in the way of your enjoying it.

There are a lot of laugh-out-loud situations in this short (less than 90 minutes by my watch) film. The whole situation is laughable when the team captain of the `A-Squad' cheerleaders at Lincoln High School is pregnant and what she does to make the situation more livable.

James Marsden (Scott Summers/Cyclops in `X-Men') is the too-good-to-be-true boyfriend of Marley Shelton (Diane Weston in the film) whose innocence, sweetness and naivety makes you want to believe that there really are people like that in the real world.

Mena Suvari (late of both `American Beauty' and `American `Pie') is a study in contrasts as the girl that `was born in prison.'

There has been a spate of cheerleader movies this last year – but this one owes much more to `But I'm A Cheerleader' than it does to `Bring It On.' There is a tension and sense of surrealism that isn't in `Bring It On.'

When all the cheer leaders don their `Betty' masks it becomes very surrealistic – almost spooky.

There is no big opening to this film: just an introduction to the characters; but there is a nice end to the film – explaining what happens to the major characters after the end of the film.

I enjoyed this film much more than I thought I would – give it a chance – you may enjoy it too.

This chick flick had lot to offer, especially the fact that desperate times lead to desperate measures. I loved this movie- to me it was like Clueless meets Point Break. It was amazing, and i thought all performances were great.

This new line cinema film, may have been a low budget one, but it was brilliant. Marley Shelton's character of Diane Weston, may not have been the perfect protagonist for this kind of movie,but she was sweet and funny- what i found good was Rachel Blanchard's portrayal as Hannah. We saw her before playing Cher is the unsuccesfull 'clueless' TV series, and in Road Trip as Tiffany- well though those were just inconsiderable, this performance was something different. Mena Suvari made a really good Kansas. Her partial sweet/tough looks, made her seem the perfect casting decision.

All in all- this mix of comedy and drama, makes this movie a great film for all teenagers. The famous pose of the 6 girls at the police station, is certainly unforgettable.

It's been only five months since we've last seen a cheerleader shake fest with the successful BRING IT ON. Girls went to see the film since it was a girls story, guys went to go see it since it showed girls shakin' their charms. Now imagine BRING IT ON, just more darker and a bit more humorous, and it's called SUGAR & SPICE. And quoting one of the other user comments, it's not bad for a January release. SUGAR & SPICE's story is told by the very jealous Lisa (Marla Sokoloff) as she is speaking to federal agents. Lisa is on the second squad of the cheerleaders, and has been overlooked for so many years. Her peers known as the 'A' squad are popular, smart, and pretty. Then when a new quarterback moves into town, Jack Bartlett (James Marsden), Lisa and the rest of the female students have a crush on him, even the cafeteria lunch ladies! But Jack has his eye on Diane Weston (Marley Shelton) who made a strong impression when meeting Jack, by doing flips and accidently kicking Jack in the face. When they see eye to eye, it's love at first sight, which leds to dating for homecoming, and Diane announcing that she is pregnant with Jack's baby, and they are getting married. But in order to get married, Jack and Diane need to live on their own. They can't get any bank loans, and not being a high school graduate yet, Jack can only get evening jobs at either fast food restraunts or Video Update with geeky clerks. Diane takes a job as a bank teller at the brach adjacent to a grocery store. And it's one evening when Diane along with her cheerleader friends are watching POINT BREAK, that Diane gets an idea that her squad should rob the bank and get the money. There's Kansas (Mena Suvari) who is the rebellious cheerleader, she speaks her mind and is sort of the leader of the squad. Kansas goes to the state prison and gets bank robbing advice from her mom, Mrs. Hill (Sean Young, with no make-up). Then Cleo (a very hot and beautiful Melissa George) who is the glamorous member, who is the only girl who doesn't have a crush on Jack, because she has a crush on Conan O' Brien! Lucy (Sara Marsh) is the brains behind the group who gives second thoughts to this robbery fearing that it will cost her the Harvard scholarship that she's working on. And Hannah (Rachel Blanchard) is the religous zealot who is very worried about doing the heist for both parental and religious reasons. The girls watch classic heist movies to learn the film character's mistakes, that way they won't make the same mistakes. Classic crime movies like RESIVOR DOGS, HEAT (1995), and APPLE DUMPLING GANG are the films watched for homework. Can the girls pull off the heist and not get caught, or will Lisa, who witnessed the heist will give the girls identification away to get on the 'A' squad? I found SUGAR & SPICE to be a surprise! It was very funny and enjoyable. It's the kind of movie that doesn't praise or show the excitement of the teenage life like CAN'T HARDLY WAIT, CRUEL INTENTIONS, or SHE'S ALL THAT. Na, instead it makes fun of it, the dopey personality of Jack. The crush on a major celebrity of Cleo, the loud mouth and vulgar Kansas, the religious worried Hannah, and the constantly studying Lucy. These are the characteristics of modern teens, not "who's going to take me to homecoming?" or "will I win that boy's affection?" I knew more cheerleaders in high schoollike the ones featured in SUGAR & SPICE, than BRING IT ON, or other teen flicks. The humor in it is quite clever. A example would be Jack's job at Video Update, where he works with two teenage geeky clerks. They hire Jack because of his popularity at school, and they also want to hear his sex stories with Diane. It's like a twisted version of SHE'S ALL THAT when you think about it, but it's more realistic. And the robbery scene at the bank is without a doubt the funniest bank robbery since George Clooney did his in OUT OF SIGHT. And the acting is also done very well, all of the girls do a good job playing teenage cheerleaders, when all of them are old enough to legally drink! I personaly enjoyed Melissa George, her character crush on Conan was quite funny, and did I mention how beautiful she was? I also enjoy the dim-witted performance of James Marsden who proves that he's a good actor, after being Cyclops in X-MEN, he can show his acting talent even further. SUGAR & SPICE is a enjoyable dark comedy, it's the kind of movie that people who already graduated high school would enjoy. That's because teens in high school now won't get the jokes since they either act like that, know people like that, or it's too witty for them. But for those who remember the wanna be's, the pretty girls, and the idiots in school, SUGAR & SPICE is a treat! And not to forget the heist is also funny itself. **** (out of five)

An entertaining comedy with Marley Shelton as the head cheerleader who gets pregnant with the star quarterback's child. Then, while watching that classic of modern cinema, "Point Break," on tv she hatches a plan that wouldn't it be great fun if her and her cheerleader buddies (including Mena Suvari) robbed a bank? Wouldn't that just help her with her financial problems? This is all very silly and the filmmakers wisely don't take any of this seriously, producing a very funny comedic take on cheerleading, high school and bad movies. GRADE: B+