+ interview with Marla Sokoloff, starring in Sugar & Spice
Clueless
The latest entry in the hopefully waning trend of
cheerleader movies, Sugar & Spice actually has a
dark, possibly clever premise, one that might have
yielded keen insights into the particular and
sometimes devastating pressures of high school girls'
culture. This premise has to do with the film's vague
evocation of the case of four well-to-do Houston girls
(one of whom was a former cheerleader) who donned ski
masks and went on an armed robbery spree in 1999. You
can see the potential here, maybe some nimble social
commentary or sharp humor, something along the lines
of Heathers or Clueless. Unfortunately, Sugar & Spice, no matter how or where it might have started
-- and there are rumors that it did begin with a
shrewdly funny, if somewhat disturbing, script --
arrives in theaters devoid of anything that might
resemble cunning or even moderately intelligent
commentary. Even the cheerleader jokes are lame.
The skimpy plot goes like this: five high school
cheerleaders -- perfect blond Diane (Marley Shelton),
slightly trashy Kansas (Mena Suvari), Conan
O'Brian-obsessed Cleo (Melissa George), religiously
inclined Hannah (Rachel Blanchard), and relatively
brainy Lucy (Sara Marsh) -- are full of adorable pep
and team spirit. Well, almost full. Kansas has a bit
of an attitude because her mom (Sean Young, playing a
lesbian, with
"see-how-rebellious-and-unglamorous-I'm-willing-to-look"
frizzy hair) is in prison, but this attitude is
reduced to her wearing dark eye makeup and black
clothes. In high school, such fashion daring can count
for a lot. In this movie, it counts for zip.
When it turns out that Diane is pregnant by her
airheaded star quarterback boyfriend Jack (James
Marsden), the girls realize that it's going to cost a
bit of money to support the child in the manner to
which Diane is accustomed, and that neither her
parents nor Jack (who is, essentially, too stupid, too
used to privilege, or too willfully naive to
comprehend the seriousness of the situation) will come
through with the proper upkeep. And so,
friends-till-the-end come up with their own plan:
they'll rob banks. Or rather, they'll rob the bank
branch in the supermarket where one of them works.
Diane declares that it will be fun, "like a great big
craft project," and the girlies set about designing
costumes ("Betty" doll masks and U.S.-flag inspired
cheerleader outfits, rigged with prosthetic tummies so
they all look as six-months pregnant as their fearless
leader) and devising a strategy, which includes
carrying guns and executing some cheerleader moves. In
order to secure the guns from a local pawn shop owner
(who looks as sweaty and scummy as the stereotype
dictates he looks), they agree to take his high school
age daughter Fern (Alexandra Holden) onto the squad.
She becomes the stereotypical make-over project,
emerging from her dowdiness into full-blown,
pink-cheeked-and-sparkling-smiled beauty.
The film is structured as a flashback, narrated by
resentful perennial B-Squadder Lisa (Marla Sokoloff),
who is ratting out the others to the cops. Her
voice-over includes traces of what might have been,
but not nearly enough. In the course of their
adventures, the girls learn a lesson, I think, but
maybe not. It's difficult to sustain much interest in
Sugar & Spice, probably because the movie shows so
little interest in the questions it raises. What's at
stake, for whom, in the insular world of high school
cheerleading? How do girls see themselves in relation
to each other? The best point made by the film
suggests what might have been: in preparation for
their exploit, the girls do homework: they watch
instructive bank robbery movies, like Point Break,
Dog Day Afternoon, Reservoir Dogs, and perhaps
most tellingly, The Apple Dumpling Gang. You can
find bad behavior -- and worse, bad ideas -- in the
most PG entertainment.
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