Sugar & Spice

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.

Sugar & Spice is almost a caricature of a teen movie. It is not, because it's not making fun of teens or teen movies, but has that slightly over the top smiley attitude that pushes you to that laughing place where you don't take things too seriously. Those who didn't like that movie didn't get that vibe. It is quite fun.

Now, it's not a perfect movie, the subject matter is treated very lightly, but the story, the dialogs, and the characters are all very entertaining. It doesn't bring anything new, per se, to the table, but it does it with flair, and laughs. The girls are beautiful, but not plastic perfect. The acting is simple, but sincere and adorable in certain cases.

One of the scene, when they announce they're getting married, is the perfect example of the quality and tone of the film. It and its followup scene in the car are hilarious.

If you want to see a good little known teen flick with an adult mask, that would to it.

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

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.

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+