She got game

>> >> Sugar & Spice puts a criminal spin on the cheerleader flick

by JOANNE LATIMER

Can the market bare another pom-pom flick? Are we ready for another cheerleader saga, so soon after Bring it On? You bet. Sugar & Spice parodies the all-American teen fantasy of making the A-squad, while tapping into the gals' inner criminals. This cross-pollination of a classic heist film with a high school spoof is a sly hoot, making you laugh out loud, very much despite yourself.

Granted, cheerleaders are an easy mark. All that vanity and elitism is asking for it. But director Francine McDougall mines much deeper. Her laughs are about how the squad's demented "can-do" attitude kicks into over-drive when faced with a problem. Their socially sanctioned perkiness goes off the rails, while always sticking to the cheerleaders' code of behaviour. Nope, their amorality doesn't bother them, as long as they're spouting cheery aphorisms. The ringleader is Diane, who lands the school's new quarterback, Jack, as her boyfriend. (Jack and Diane--that's the first of many pop culture jokes.) Diane, played by Marley Shelton, who is a dead ringer for Heather Graham, ends up pregnant, while Jack (James Marsden) turns out to be an unemployable ditz. Diane and the A-squad take money matters into their own hands, keeping Jack out of the loop. Plans are hatched and the girls get some unexpected payback from the B-squad.

"He Ikea'd us!" exclaims Kansas (Mena Suvari of American Beauty fame). She and Diane ordered a cachet of guns and ended up with some sorry-ass weapons. They get advice from Kansas' mom (Sean Young) about how to apply their cheering discipline to their new goal. The girls rent heist films and the director treats us to some hilarious bubble-gum versions of scenes from classic crime films (look for Dog Day Afternoon).

The press kit makes frequent parallels to Heathers. A common claim, but this time the propaganda rings true. Sugar & Spice is good, and the bar has been set pretty high for cheerleader films since Bring it On. Sugar & Spice does the genre proud. Gary Glitter's stadium anthem "Rock and Roll Part II" has never been put to such good use. :

Sugar & Spice opens Friday, Jan. 26