Sugar & Spice is a 2001 American teen film directed by Francine McDougall, written by Lona Williams under the alias of "Mandy Nelson", and starring Marla Sokoloff, Marley Shelton, Melissa George, Mena Suvari, Rachel Blanchard, and James Marsden. It tells the story of a group of high school cheerleaders who conspire and commit armed robbery when one of them becomes pregnant and are desperate for money.
Sugar & Spice was released by New Line Cinema on January 26, 2001. The film received mixed reviews from critics. One of the film's cast members, Melissa George, was also from Australia, and she had begun doing US acting roles the year Sugar & Spice was shot.
It was loosely based on a 1999 series of robberies perpetrated by four teenage girls from the Kingwood area of Houston, Texas. Sokoloff stated, "It's not the same, of course, yet I'm not sure if Sugar & Spice would have been made if that hadn't happened."
The film had a lengthy post-production, and changed so much from the original that Lona Williams had her name removed from the film and the writing was instead credited to the pseudonym Mandy Nelson.
Casting for the film coincided with the casting of another film about cheerleaders, Bring It On. 17 years later, actress Gabrielle Union claimed that she and many of her Bring It On co-stars auditioned for Sugar & Spice, with the latter seen as the more desirable project. "Bring It On was the cheerleading movie that was the consolation prize because you didn't get the cheerleading movie that you wanted", she said. The closing credits use the song "Let's Rob a Bank" by the band Size 14. Despite the title, it wasn't recorded specifically for the film, having originally appeared on their 1997 self-titled album.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 30% based on reviews from 74 critics, with the site's 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." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 48% based on reviews from 17 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and wrote: "It's not a great high school movie like Election, but it's alive and risky and saucy."
Brendan Kelly of Variety gave the film a positive review, calling it "[q]uite a smart little film with a surprising satirical edge."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B grade, and wrote: "It's fun in its raunchy unwieldiness."
Peter Travers at Rolling Stone compared the film unfavorably to Bring It On, saying it was "not in the same clever league" and is critical that Suvari is underused, and that the gags are "scattershot at best".
Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle wrote, "The actors didn't seem worried by taking a comic approach to teen crime."