Guilty Pleasures

Sugar & Spice

2001

I have a confession. I often find myself sucked into ABC Family's weekend movie marathons while channel surfing, and this weekend was no different. The unifying theme? Cheerleading. Gimme a W-T-F.

Now, I was never a cheerleader. Lacking both the requisite levels of freakish flexibility and hyperactive school spirit, I happily relegated myself to the marching band, where I could be snarky, ironic and too-cool-to-acknowledge-that-I-wasn't-actually-cool. A meta-cool, if you will.

Nevertheless, one of my guiltiest pleasures is 2001's Sugar & Spice. It has the cheer-tastic combination of brainless, feel-good cheerleading and dark, tongue-in-cheek comedy. Rivalry between the perfect A-squad and misfit B-squad? Check. Hot and heavy romance between the blonde head cheerleader and hunky football quarterback? Check. Cheerleaders plotting an elaborate bank heist to finance their head cheerleader's pregnancy expenses? A cheerleader's stalker-ish obsession with Conan O'Brien? A completely implausible yet strangely satisfying ending? Check, check and check. So next time you're aching for a cheer-gasm, skip Bring It On and watch Sugar & Spice instead. I swear, I won't tell anyone.

-Victoria Mazgalev

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