Review: Sleepover (* 1/2)

SLEEPOVER
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2


Probably the best thing that could be said about SLEEPOVER is that it's
harmless. A flick for tween girls, it chronicles the lame adventures of a
group of 14-year-old girls who are having a sleepover to celebrate their
graduation from junior high school.



Actually, the story isn't really about a sleepover at all, but about the
girls' pulling the wool over the eyes of the mother (Jane Lynch) and the
father (Jeff Garlin) who are hosting the party. The girls are off on a
scavenger hunt competition with the in-crowd pitted against the out-crowd.
The winning prize is the possession of the prime lunch spot ("The Fountain")
when they go to high school. The losers have to eat next to the dumpsters.



Julie (Alexa Vega, the girl star in the SPY KIDS movies) and Hannah (Mika
Boorem, the younger sister in BLUE CRUSH) are card-carrying members of the
out-crowd. Stacie (Sara Paxton) and Liz (Brie Larson) are leaders of The
Plastics -- oops, wrong movie. In this film they are called something like
The Pleathers.



After playing dress-up like 8-year-olds and doing fun stuff like freezing
their bras, the girls graduate to activities such as stealing Steve's
boxers. Steve, being a handsome hunk of a skateboarder, is Julie's favorite
dreamboat. Steve is played by Sean Faris, who has the looks but not the
acting skills of a young Tom Cruise.



"This is excruciating," Stacie tells Liz, which could be said about all of
this charmless comedy.



SLEEPOVER runs 1:37. It is rated PG for "thematic elements involving teen
dating, some sensuality and language" and would be acceptable for kids
around 8 and up.



My son Jeffrey, age 15, thought the movie was "all right" and gave it **
1/2. He said that it was a fun little film but that he didn't believe they
were really just fourteen.



The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.



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