Grrly action (8/24/01)
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Sugar And Spice. [Francine McDougall, 2001. Written by Mandy Nelson.]
Cheerleaders Marley Shelton [the pregnant ringleader in dire financial straits], Melissa George [wouldbe stalker of Conan O’Brien], Mena Suvari [whose mother is in the pen], Rachel Blanchard [the Christian virgin], Sara Marsh [the brain with a scholarship to Harvard], and Alexandra Holden [the hick added to the squad in medias res], opposed rather ineffectually by jealous rival Marla Sokoloff and aided not in the slightest by nitwit star quarterback and father-to-be James Marsden, take inspiration from the movies [in particular
Point Break, but also
Reservoir Dogs,
Heat, and
Dog Day Afternoon] and decide to dress up in doll costumes and rob a bank. They get away with it, but the movie doesn’t; why I’m not exactly sure, but there’s nothing less funny than trying to analyze a joke that doesn’t quite work. Suffice it that this opus has its moments [the signature “cheerleaders kick ass” routine among them], and that it’s certainly just deserts to see the male lead [who begins on the same footing as the others] recede so rapidly into insignificance — just like the girlfriend in a guys’ flick. But for the moment I’m trying to believe that high school is over.
____________Gotta like boobsalot (7/28/01)
