Customer Reviews

Sugar & Spice [VHS]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Cheerleaders are an easy target. They're always happy, peppy and have high standards, both in their morals and in their men. Such is the case of the five women in "Sugar and Spice."

Everything is idyllic in their world... especially when the head cheerleader meets the transfer student quarterback! But after some extracurricular activity, there's a new student on the way. And after their parents collectively disown the kids for it, it's time to stop being polite and start getting a real job.

After suffering through minimum wage jobs while trying to continue to study, and dealing with a flophouse style home with a sketchy super and desperately needing to plan for their arriving bundle, the squad comes up with a plan: rob the bank where their pregnant partner is employed! And what a plan it is!

Complete with blond doll masks and star spangled outfits, the girls are set to pull their "Reservoir Dogs" routine. But can they get away with it?

As implausible as the plot is, it's equally engaging, as we follow the team attempting to plan out this perfect crime, in order to help their friend. It's got a lot of heart and charm!

Fans of the David E. Kelley TV series, "The Practice" will recognize Marla Sokoloff as the Cheer squad's main antagonist... but fans of J.J. Abrams TV series "Alias" might NOT recognize aussie actress Melissa George who here plays the squad member obsessed with Conan O'Brien!

The DVD has both the widescreen and the standard versions of the film, plus a couple of deleted scenes (which, quite frankly, were correctly left out of the final cut, but are interesting to see here). A talented and amusing cast, and a fun story... definitely recommended!

I went to see this movie with a fellow college student, and we laughed throughout. Unfortunately, everyone else in the theatre was probably 13 years old, and the jokes sailed over thier heads. It is a biting high school satire that has quite a few funny points. If you loved Election, Heathers, or Drop Dead Gorgeous (which I did), Sugar and Spice is right up your alley.

This movie has been called a very silly farce, and perhaps it is. But for some of us it might just be the perfect antidote to some of our sour high school memories of pompousness. If you went to a school with plenty of pompousness and one where cheerleaders are virtually worshipped as goddesses and as an utterly unattainable standard for the rest of us, here's a no-holds-barred deflation of all that. It is sometimes hilarious, and I think I must speak for quite a few viewers when I say it is a thoroughly refreshing de-bunking of those myths that still haunt some of our teen memories. The cheerleaders in this movie are a motley crew of girls -- there's a super-popular one, there's a "trampy" one whose mother is in prison, and there's a super-pious one, out to retain her virginity (at least supposedly so!). But this movie brings them all down to the same earthy level and says cheerleaders can be real doofuses to all the extent of the other doofuses you knew in high school. SUGAR AND SPICE can really give one a feeling that there's not much difference after all between those school icons you most envied or wanted to emulate and their unfortunate classmates who were the butts of the most cruel jokes. At least one other recent movie seemed to celebrate and exult cheerleading as if it were the most serious and important sport since kickboxing. I guess there's a legitimate audience for such things. Some do take cheerleading very seriously, and not all of them should be assumed as having any intent of putting the rest of us "in our place". So let them be entitled to their serious cheerleading movies. But for so many of the rest of us, I must suppose, such a movie only reinforced those old memories of social stratification in school, seeming to waste some promising young acting talent in the process. So, while cheerleaders might need their serious movies, so equally do many of the rest of us need the likes of SUGAR AND SPICE as a refreshing change of pace!

I have seen this movie a few times and the play off of movies like "Heat", "Dog Day Afternoon", "Reservoir Dogs" & "Point Break" was sheer brilliance. The characters were fun as well as the entire movie. I feel the soundtrack was fun as well with some cool rock & roll tunes. I bought both the movie on DVD and the soundtrack on CD and would recommend this movie to anyone who has not aborted their sense of humor and can just leave the critical part of the brain at the doorstep and just watch a movie for the fun of it. We can all pick things to pieces with critical thinking but this is not that kind of movie. Very few movies involving teenagers and adults can put a story together that tries not to be condescending or serious for either generation and that's what makes this unique satire such a hidden gem. If you haven't seen this movie but like movies that are fun just for the sake of being fun then this movie is for you!

About the movie: The entire movie is told in retrospect by a second string (B Squad) cheerleader named Lisa (Marla Sokoloff). The movie starts with Lisa at the police station looking at a lineup of suspected Bank robbers she witnessed. The bank robbers are the "A" Cheerleader Squad Team. The captain of the "A" Team is Diane Weston (Marley Shelton) whom upon meeting a new boy Jack Bartlett (James Marsden) the new football quarterback, gets an instant crush on him and then is asked to the Prom dance by him. They fall in love and she gets pregnant. After being rejected by their parents they find a dump of an apartment and make the best of it. While the "A" team is at Diane's watching Point Break it occurs to Diane how she can get the money she needs for her family-to-be. MONEY, money can give you what you want? They can rob a bank? After a few moments they go hands in on the deal and make a pact with each other. Each watch a movie like "Reservoir Dogs" and "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Heat" as well as "The Apple Dumpling Gang" by one of the girls who's from a Christian home who can only watch G movies. They make a practice run by stealing the schools lunch money and build a little self-confidence. The bank robbery looks like a combination of all the movies they had watched. If you want to see how it ends then you just have to watch it. If you like looking at pretty girls then this is a pleasing movie for this as well. When the movie was made the girls actual ages ranged from Mena Suvari being the youngest at age 21 and Marley Shelton being the oldest at age 26, The girls all pull off playing teenage girls quite convincingly and appear to have all had fun making this movie and working with each other. If I had any gripe at all it would be that the soundtrack for this movie did not include several songs heard in the movie and the soundtrack is only 36.5 minutes so it's not like there wasn't room on the CD. Anyway, watch the movie and have fun.

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!

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.

I'm willing to bet for many people(myself included) that this isn't the kind of film anyone will walk away from thinking "Phenomenal". No matter how many times you see this movie it will never reach phenomenal status, but it does get better every time you watch.

The first time I saw this movie I hated the annoyingly stupid characters and poorly delivered jokes. Then while laying in bed I start thinking about some of the corny jokes like "Im trapped under the ice" and "Trix Rabbit or Count Chocola". So I pop in the DVD again and every time I watch is better then the last, because you find more silly/corny one liners that stick in your head.

Directing=4 stars
Ending=2.5 stars
acting&cast=4 stars
replay value=4 stars
music=4.5 stars

OVERALL= 3.8 STARS

If you like corny humor like "Kung Pow, enter the fist", you might like this movie. If your looking for the same dark teen humor found in "Jawbreaker", this is not your film.

This movie was alot better than I expected. It was very comical and, in my opinion, better than Bring it On. But that might just be because of the Conan O'brien thing. One main character in this movie is obsessed with him (like I am...he's so hot!)

I fell in love with this movie! The plot was good because it all fixed in with the begining with Diane falling in love with Jack and then Diane gets pregnant and gets kicked out of the house with MAJOR money problems! The movie was cute and both funny at the same time!
If you want to see real reviews by critics you can go to:
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This is not a film I would normally single out for review, but I've found some of the other reviews on this site to be a bit harsh. This is basically a very broad, bordering on cartoonish, little comedy about cheerleaders robbing a bank. As you can imagine, it's not Merchant-Ivory territory. But it is quite cute, very amusing all the way through, and very funny in several sections. I, at the very least, had a big grin pasted across my face for the entire running time even if I wasn't doubled over in laughter. It's a good deal smarter and edgier than most teen comedy fare, being head and shoulders above "American Pie" and "Scary Movie," which stunk. Everyone is a caricature and does a good job. Some jokes don't pay off, but you can't win 'em all - the ratio of what works to what doesn't is high. So, give this small movie a break... it was by no means terrible, or even mediocre. It was good to very good. I liked it. To put my comedic tastes in perspective: the best comedy in the last several years has been "Mr. Show with Bob & David," "Kids in the Hall" and their feature "Brain Candy," "Fear of a Black Hat," "Sweet & Lowdown," Kevin Smith films and you gotta love Monty Python, SCTV Network, & classic Richard Pryor & all George Carlin. If you're tastes are like mine, think lowbrow and enjoy this flick.