Sugar & Spice (2001)

"Their cheer blew like a bulimic after Christmas dinner," sneers Lisa (Marla Sokoloff from Dude, Where's My Car?), a bitter B-squad cheerleader who has it in for the A squad. She's come to the police to solve the mystery of a local bank robbery--a story that begins when head cheerleader Diane (Marley Shelton, Pleasantville, The Bachelor) and star quarterback Jack (James Marsden, X-Men, Disturbing Behavior) fell in love. Before you know it, Diane's knocked up--but she and Jack are delighted and decide to get married. Their parents disown them immediately, so the young couple ends up in a crappy apartment, working low-wage jobs. They're both so unrelentingly earnest and cheerful that they won't lose heart, but Diane soon realizes that their incomes won't support their impending twins. Then, one night as she and her squad (including Mena Suvari of American Beauty) are watching Point Break, they get the idea to rob a bank... Sugar & Spice, a broad satire of high school hierarchy, is set to a sparkling pop soundtrack and features many, many shots of cute cheerleaders in tight sweaters and short skirts. The cast is enthusiastic; Sokoloff in particular seems to savor her atypically nasty role. Also featuring cameos by Jerry Springer, Kurt Loder, and an almost unrecognizable Sean Young (Blade Runner, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective). --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

A Tale by a Girl in Green

In a police station in a midwestern town, an impatient and irreverent Lincoln High School B-Squad cheerleader named Lisa Janusch (Marla Sokoloff) begins her testimony about a recent robbery at a local supermarket bank branch, which, for her, included a very close confrontation with one of the perpetrators.
Noticeably, when she is not in her red, white, and blue cheerleading uniform, her predominant color of apparel is green--a color that symbolizes her envy of the two central figures in this story, the captain of the cheerleading A-Squad, Diane Weston (a deceptively mild and innocent looking Marley Shelton), and the star quarterback, Jack Bartlett(a toothy James Marsden, who has a rather demonic beauty).
The adults are viewed from Lisa's teenaged perspective. That is to say as dorky and out of touch, and her lack of respect for them could not be more obvious.
But she directs most of her venom at Diane in commentary that very thinly veils her envy of Diane's beauty, popularity, and upbeat attitude, especially since she herself is coming out of an ugly duckling phase.
Jack Bartlett is a recent transfer student to Lincoln High, and Lisa cannot hide her bitterness over the fact that no other girl besides Diane ever had a chance of winning him once the two literally collided with each other at a pep rally.
Their relationship takes an unexpected turn when Diane becomes pregnant by Jack. While he boasts about impending fatherhood to his teammates on Prom Night, the same news is met with emotion, some apprehension and ultimately support by Diane's fellow A-Squad members including the pious Hannah Wald(Rachel Blanchard), the Conan O'Brien obsessed Cleo Miller (Melissa George), the scholarly Lucy Whitman(Sarah Marsh), and the gruff Kansas Hill ( Mena Suvari), whose mother(Sean Young) is doing a prison term--from which a major plot point arises.
Expelled from their respective homes, Jack and Diane take up residence in a seedy apartment with a landlord of questionable repute, are compelled to find jobs (Jack's blatant honesty and ineptitude combine to cost him a few of those), and deal with school, sports, and cheerleading combined, and the situation gradually takes its toll.
During a sleepover with the A-Squad members, Diane comes up with the idea of robbing the bank branch where she works, after lamenting her moneyless plight, as she watches a tape of Keanu Reeves in "Point Break". While Lucy objects to the idea, Kansas is the first to support it, expressing a willingness to add to her own family's dubious history.
The girls pay a visit to Kansas' mother and her inmates, and get a tip on where to buy ammunition for the heist. They are led to Hank "Terminator" Rogers (W. Earl Brown), who agrees to waive the fee for the contraband rifles if the girls agree to let his daughter, Fern (Alexandra Holden) join the squad.
Interspersed with all this are Lisa's skewered views of Fern's performance at the winter pep rally and her refusal to take responsibility for her own failure to impress the crowd at that event.
There is an amusingly precarious scene when Kansas' grandmother(Claudia Wilkins) almost catches the girls with the chest full of ammo as they are in the basement of Kansas' house that illustrates the need for the older generation to be a little less naive and pay attention to what the youngsters are really up to.
After learning that Jack sold the intended getaway car, the girls find a less-than-desireable way to travel. Donning Betty Doll masks and costumes( Lucy, who initially bowed out, rejoins them disguised as Nixon), they carry off the heist, unaware that Lisa is witnessing the deed and has gathered evidence against them.
The hysteria over the robbery leads to wrongful accusations while the real culprits go on with their lives. For a brief time, Diane enjoys the items bought for her forthcoming twins with the ill-gotten gains, and rationalizes what she has done.
But when the law catches up to A-Squad, events take an unexpected turn, and the girls are released from their holding cell.
The comical ending reveals the fate of each squad member, and a fun sing-along by the Weird Al Yankovic sound-alike group, Size 14.
My final recommendation regarding Francine McDougall's twisted farce: Let it amuse you as much as possible, kids. But don't try this in real life! February 23, 2008

LAUGH OUT LOUD FUN!!

This is a laugh filled movie with goofy dumb yet likable characters.
Very impressed with the comedy talents of James Marsden. The score is quite good as the ending credits roll. Wish I could find the soundtrack CD. September 22, 2007

One sweet comedy!

The title says it all: Sugar & Spice. It's a sweet yet sour comedy about the A-squad cheerleaders and their sister-like friendship as they all unite to help the head cheerleader, Diane (played by adorable Marley Shelton) and her quarterback boyfriend support the twins they're expecting. I watched this movie not knowing anything about it, and I honestly thought as soon as Diane learns she's pregnant and gives her boyfriend the news, that he was going to leave her, but he couldn't have been more happy. In fact, the only people upset with the news are their parents who disown them, leaving the young couple to fend for themselves. They marry and take minimum wage jobs to pay for their apartment and the expected twins, but it's not enough. But that doesn't stop the A-squad from coming up with a heist plan sure to give the couple the cash they need to care for their babies. Told from the point of view of a bitter B-squad cheerleader, this is one of those fun movies like Mean Girls that's funny yet sweet without being too sugary. It will leave you cheering for these good bad girls the entire way. Enjoy...this one is definitely a keeper! October 24, 2006

Silly Funny Laugh-till-you-cry Movie!

I've seen this flick on TV a couple of times, never the whole thing so I never knew the title until I googled "cheerleaders rob bank". That tells you right there how crazy this movie is. Trying to describe why it's so good is impossible-- it's just plain SILLY but so much fun you want to watch it over and over. It's hilarious. January 13, 2006

Doesn't have the feistiness of Bring It On

I enjoyed this movie, although was disappointed, as Bring It On is one of my favourite feel good movies. This was disappointing in comparison to Bring It On.

The actresses are fab in this however - look out for a black-haired Melissa George (was Angel in Home & Away, and was also in Friends), who's virtually unrecognisable! Also Alexandra Holden comes in half way through (was also in Friends, and Tru Calling), and Marla Sokoloff (ALSO in Friends), Marley Shelton & Mena Suvari do a good job, with what little they have to do in the film, with their two-dimensional roles. They dress up as Betty Dolls (which I've never seen in the UK), and each one plays a different Betty Doll. The Bettys are: Diane - "Mood Swing" Betty; Kansas - "White Trash" Betty; Cleo - "Stalker" Betty; Hannah - "Virgin" Betty (with optional horse and saddle); Fern - "Terminator" Betty and Lucy - Richard Nixon. (Obviously another nod to Point Break.)

The storyline's pretty standard for a teen movie. Lead star (who looks like Heather Graham) gets pregnant, move into their own home, and promptly run out of money. So while watching Point Break (yes, you do get a glimpse of Keanu during this), they decide to rob a bank. And it goes off without a hitch.

The movie's not that long, only 73 minutes, with two minutes of "where are they now?" and six minutes of credits for a running time of 81 minutes. So it's not completely a waste of time, as it's over in no time, and it's instantly forgettable as well.

Fluffy fun, which you'll watch, smile and switch off. Nothing more, nothing less. September 22, 2005

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