Sugar and Spice & The Bling Ring (with Jaime Bolker)

Rotten Rewind

For our second installment in the Vulgar Female Gaze miniseries, we're interrogating the often polarizing sub-genre of women doing crime. Writer Jaime Bolker joins us for a look back at two ripped from the headlines comedies: the 2001 cheerleaders turned bank robbers comedy "Sugar & Spice" and Sofia Coppola's pivot into the true crime genre with 2013's "The Bling Ring."

Coming on the heels of "Bring It On" and "But I'm a Cheerleader," Francine McDougall's midwestern crime satire "Sugar & Spice" was met with a critical shrug, but managed to find enduring success as a future sleepover classic for 90s kids. Coppola, usually a critical darling, was met with a more divisive reaction than usual for her muted look at the true story of a group of San Fernando Valley teens who loved to rob tabloid celebrities in the late 2000s.

How did "Sugar & Spice" go from the hot title every young actress wanted to be in to the tonally erratic January release it was doomed to become? Was 1999-2002 the golden era for Mena Suvari? Has James Marsden ever given a bad performance? Was Sofia Coppola the right choice for a ripped from the headlines true crime romp? Did "The Bling Ring" help set the stage for the "A24 brand?" Is Emma Watson's accent more Valley Girl or Canadian? Do dads get horny? Join us for a conversation on all this and more!

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