Sugar & Spice

Sugar & Spice

Promotional poster
Directed by Francine McDougall
Produced by Wendy Finerman
Written by Mandy Nelson
Starring Marla Sokoloff
Marley Shelton
Mena Suvari
Melissa George
Rachel Blanchard
Alexandra Holden
Sara Marsh
James Marsden
Narrated by Marla Sokoloff
Music by Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography Robert Brinkmann
Edited by Sloane Klevin
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
  • January 26, 2001 (2001-01-26) (US)
Running time
 81 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $27 million[1]
Box office $16,908,947[1]

Sugar & Spice is a 2001 American teen crime comedy film directed by Francine McDougall, and starring Marley Shelton, Marla Sokoloff, Mena Suvari, James Marsden, and Melissa George. The plot follows a group of high school cheerleaders who conspire and commit armed robbery when one of them becomes pregnant and desperate for income.

It was loosely based on a 1999 series of robberies perpetrated by four teenage girls from the Kingwood area of Houston, Texas.[2] Sokoloff stated that "It's not the same, of course, yet I'm not sure if Sugar & Spice would have been made if that hadn't happened."[3]

Production

Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle wrote that "The actors didn't seem worried by taking a comic approach to teen crime."[3]

Plot

The story is narrated by Lisa Janusch (Marla Sokoloff), the bitter and jealous head cheerleader of Lincoln High School's B-squad.

Diane Weston (Marley Shelton), the popular head cheerleader of Lincoln High School's A-squad, becomes pregnant by the star football quarterback Jack Bartlett (James Marsden). The two move out of their parents' homes to find an apartment of their own. Jack initially has problems staying in a job, due to his tactless personality, but finally gets hired at a video rental store. In spite of their problems coming up with the rent money, Jack and Diane try as hard as they can to survive while going to school at the same time. Lisa, Diane's bitter rival, occasionally runs into Jack at the rental store. She is interested in winning Jack's heart, but fails to get his attention.

After struggling with the rent and anticipating the financial hardship of supporting a family, Diane and her four cheerleader squadmates, Kansas Hill (Mena Suvari), Cleo Miller (Melissa George), Lucy Whitmore (Sara Marsh), and Hannah Wald (Rachel Blanchard), plan the perfect bank robbery. They promise each other not to tell Jack about their plan, because of his inability to lie to others.

The squad watches heist films to learn how to rob banks, and Kansas visits her mother at the women's penitentiary for tips on where to find weaponry. Following the women's advice, Diane and her friends visit a bug exterminator, "The Terminator" (W. Earl Brown), who sells illegal arms and ammo. He refuses to sell them the guns unless they accept his daughter, Fern Rogers (Alexandra Holden), on the squad.

The squad agrees to do so and they begin rehearsing the robbery, as well as their choreography for the winter ball. During winter break, they order masks to hide their identities. Lucy backs out of the heist because she receives a scholarship to Harvard. At Christmas, Diane receives an engagement ring from Jack. She then finds out he sold his GTO in order to buy her the ring. The squad is forced to buy a new get-away vehicle, which turns out to be an old van with bad brakes.

At their first robbery at a supermarket, Lucy returns to the group having decided to help them after all. Lisa happens to be in the store at the time of the robbery, and notices that they perform cheerleader stunts in order to cover up the security cameras. The squad robs the bank and come close to shooting a customer after one of the guns discharges. They make off with armloads of cash and celebrate their success after burning their costumes. The robbery is reported on TV. Neither Diane nor her friends expect Lisa to suspect them until they are confronted by her and the B-squad in the high school cafeteria, followed by the FBI.

Diane and her friends are jailed and need an alibi, so Diane promises to promote Lisa to captain of the A-squad in order to keep Lisa silent, since she is approaching her third trimester and can't do rigorous activity. The group is outraged, but come to appreciate this decision. In order to cover up her actions, Diane tells Jack she won the lottery and after they have their children, Jack wins his senatorial campaign, and Diane's squad lead successful lives after high school.

Cast

Release

Critical reception

Sugar & Spice received generally negative reviews; it currently holds a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "Though this cheerleader comedy has an intriguing premise, it's too empty-headed and saddled with too many lame jokes to live up to it. Also, some critics say the movie is irresponsible in its depiction of teens and guns."[4]

Box office

The film opened at #5 at the North American Box office making $5,891,176 USD in its opening weekend. By the end of its run, it had grossed $13,305,101 in the domestic box office and $16,908,947 worldwide; based on a $27 million budget, it was a box office bomb.[1]

Soundtrack

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sugar & Spice at Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ Henderson, Gracie. "Parole denied for two of the Kingwood "Queens of Armed Robbery" (Archive). Houston Community Newspapers & Media Group. Thursday July 17, 2003. Retrieved on February 15, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Westbrook, Bruce. "Film: 'Sugar & Spice,'where everything's nice" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. Sunday, January 21, 2001. Retrieved on February 15, 2016.
  4. ↑ Sugar & Spice at Rotten Tomatoes
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