Sugar and Spice

Having had a rash of movies contributing to the dumbing down of American moviegoers, "Sugar and Spice" was a somewhat welcome change. Although trailers for the film depicted nothing more than a not-so-funny comedy, the movie turned out to be more of a satire on teens, and especially cheerleaders. Unfortunately, it still turned out to be not so funny. \n "Sugar and Spice" is the "wholesome" story of the relationship of Jack and Diane (a nice Mellencamp reference), the star quarterback and head cheerleader, respectively. When Diane (Marley Shelton) gets pregnant and the high-school sweethearts are kicked out of their houses and scraping to get by, Diane draws inspiration from "Point Break" and plans a bank robbery with her A-squad cheerleaders. \nThe rest of the squad features the rest of "The Breakfest Club" stereotypes available, from the good Christian virgin Hannah (Rachel Blanchard) and the bad seed Kansas (Mena Suvari) to the brainy Lucy (Sara Marsh) and the just plain bizarre Cleo (Melissa George), who has a humorous obsession with Conan O' Brien. \nWhile the premise seems rich with satirical potential, in reality the script suffers through too many half-hearted attempts at humor. There are some funny moments, but they are too few and far between, not a good sign for a movie that's only about 80 minutes long. The script does avoid the typical bathroom humor of the latest teen comedies (save for a few out-of-place gas jokes), but there's just not enough tongue in cheek humor or social commentary to keep the film upright. \nThere's nothing in the film's direction that stands out, but director Francine McDougall keeps "Sugar and Spice" on track and flowing, important given its short length. The flashback story sequence ties the film up nicely, and plotwise, the story reaches a satisfying conclusion. However, one is left to question if adding more scenes could have helped the movie drive home more of a point or create more laughs. For a film that had negative press before its release for its dark humor (the original title had been "Sugar and Spice and Semiautomatics") the script may have taken too many cuts to make it more viewer friendly. \nIf you want "Sugar and Spice" save your money for the more traditional variety that can be found in the Indiana Memorial Union.