"Sugar & Spice" puts your average cheerleader movie to shame. It's sassy and satirical, closer in spirit to "But I'm a Cheerleader" than to "Bring It On." With its shameless pop culture references, wicked satire and a cheerleader with the hots for Conan O'Brien, it's more proof that not all movie teenagers have to be dumb. (All right, these cheerleaders are dumb--but in a smart movie.) I was surprised by the PG-13 rating; the movie is so in tune with its under-17 target audience that it's amazing the MPAA didn't slap it with an R.
Advertisement
The movie takes place at Lincoln High School, with a crepe-headed Honest Abe prancing on the sidelines. We meet the A-team of the cheerleader squad, who seem like a cross between Olympic gymnasts and the pompon girl who inflamed Kevin Spacey in "American Beauty." No wonder: Mena Suvari, who played the pompon girl, turns up here as Kansas, a girl whose mom is in prison.