Sugar & Spice

When I first saw this movie in theaters, I didn't think too highly of it. I didn't think it was terrible, yet I came out feeling dissatisfied. Maybe I was in a bad mood. Who knows? Well, it was Free Preview Weekend on Starz, so I checked this movie out again. And I watched it all three times they showed it. This time I had a lot more fun!

"Sugar and Spice" is far from great, and is certainly no gem, but it's enjoyable teen fluff with some good laughs. And let's face it, it centers on five sexy, scantily clad cheerleaders. If you're a guy...how much more can you ask for? This is the type of film that is made to satisfy both male and female viewers alike, kind of like "Coyote Ugly." The girls enjoy the dynamics of the female characters, the guys enjoy the beauty of the female characters. This is not as sexy as "Bring It On," but I'm still satisfied.

The humor is sometimes lame and heavy-handed, and the characters are all caricatures, but I never reached the point where I wanted to croak. The movie is overall pretty harmless. And there are some funny moments, including one where Mena Suvari goes to visit her mother (Sean Young) in prison. She asks her Mom for advice on robbing a bank. Her Mom blushes and says, "This is like asking me for help on your homework." And I have to give this movie credit: the teen characters aren't as dumb as they are in most of these movies.

"Sugar and Spice" is cute, lightweight entertainment and enables you to see five hot babes in short skirts. Sweet!

My score: 7 (out of 10)

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.

I had high expectations for this movie. I guess that they were a little too high, because this movie did not work. It started off great, being fast paced, biting, and just plain mean. Any movie where the parents of both the head cheerleader and the quarterback cheer about their marriage, but scream about their pregnancy...well, it can still suck.

The movie cared too much about its subjects. It had a heart for the cheerleaders (either that or it was the toning down after the shootings), and thus I didn't feel that the point of the movie was to laugh at them, but to laugh with them. This is like American Pie, where we laugh with the characters. Except the humor that could have worked was aimed at them, thus making a conflict and making many jokes not funny. Also, the timing was off on alot of the jokes. "You want to dust my a**" should have been funny, but it wasn't.

So, if you like the light-hearted dark comedy genre (of which there aren't too many...none that I can think of off the top of my head), see this movie, otherwise, stay to the biting satire of Bring it On.

3/10

Who would not want to see a movie about bank robbing cheerleaders? The movie isn't so concerned with the cheerleaders themselves as it is with the classic "what if?" scenario of the captain of the squad becoming impregnated by the captain of the football team. And where to go from there? Why, rob a bank, of course. They have the finesse, they have the ability and, most of all, they have the grooviest disguises (All-American Dolls) since the Ex-Presidents in Point Break.

What stood out is the performance of Mary Shelton in the role of Diane, the cheerleader captain and mastermind. She does a wonderful job of keeping a positive attitude when her life starts to crumble around her. And, as her polar opposite, James Mardsen does a great job of portraying the clueless jock Jack. Mardsen has cluelessness done to a T, especially when failing to realize the stigma of having to work at a video store. While it's nice to see that the stereotypes are not being limited to just the popular people, is it really necessary to have them at all?

The rest of the squad, however, only fall into the aforementioned stereotypes. The cast does their best to overcome them, but there are only so many cheerleader jokes you can do in a feature. Mena Suvari does look like she's having fun, though, as the bad girl cheerleader. And Rachel Blanchard does look pretty as the morally upright cheerleader.

When the robbery comes, it's almost a non-event. But it does come with quite a few laughs. What the film needed to show more of is the aftermath. How does it affect their lives immediately after? Sure, there's a recap at the end, but it would have been better to see those events unfold than to just read about them. Maybe New Line didn't like the first cut of the film and had it pared. Given the 83 minute running time, that is likely.

However, this is the best film with a January release date since Jackie Chan's First Strike. The photography is arid yet striking. The cast is game, the screenplay does have some great laugh out loud moments and it's nice to see a film that shows the many uses of cheerleader athletics.