'A Sugar & Spice Holiday': Chinese traditions and 'gingerlicious' bake-off are saving graces of Lifetime's rom-com
Spoilers for 'A Sugar & Spice Holiday'
The countdown for Christmas has begun, the decorations are out and people across the world are eagerly waiting for the holidays after a year of struggle and difficulties. To supplement a dash of joy to the much-anticipated time of the year, Lifetime is presenting its viewers with a range of Christmas holiday movies. 'A Sugar & Spice Holiday' from its collection brings to us the story of a Chinese-American architect Suzie (Jacky Lai) and her determination to win the Gingerlicious bake-off competition.
When Suzie visits home for Christmas, while grappling with her own professional issues, she learns that the community center is on the brink of being taken down and only her victory at the gingerbread house bake-off competition can save it. Her childhood friend from school, Billy (Tony Giroux), offers help with the competition in an attempt to save the center.
But, Suzie knows that her grandmother was the best baker in the whole town and only her secret recipe can help her win the competition. While Suzie wants to use her vacation time to complete one of her architecture projects, she is faced with one too many obstacles.
When she is torn between saving the community and her own job, Tommy steps in to provide her with some direction and assurance that she will excel in everything she does.
Meanwhile, her family on the lookout for a “perfect” guy for Suzie, encourages her to reciprocate to Billy similarly as he starts to develop feelings for her during their cookie-making adventures. Having been born and brought up in Chinses households, Suzie and Billy cherish their common traditions, which also brings them closer together.
Despite a lot of effort and dedication, Suzie and Billy’s team ends up losing the competition due to a mishap while cooking, and Suzie yet again finds herself at the crossroads. And all of sudden a helpless Suzie is clueless, unable to choose between her personal and professional life. Adding on to her already mounted issues is the lack of her grandmother’s secret recipe which could save the center. You need to watch the rest of the movie to know what decisions she makes for herself.
As the title suggests ‘A Sugar & Spice’ holiday has a little bit of everything. There is laughter, love, pain, and much more. The idea of a cooking competition during the holidays, especially for a good cause is a brilliant theme to premise the movie on. But, the lifetime project suffers a setback with its execution.
It seems like some of the actors in the movie were forcefully placed only to meet the requirements of the script, while the rest fail to make an impression. The lead characters offer decent performances individually but fall short of chemistry when put together. The beginning of 'A Sugar & Spice Holiday' is exciting as certain characters are compared with Christmas treats quite aptly, but that’s about it.
The movie does draw attention to Chinese culture and should be credited for its diversity as it includes actors from various social backgrounds. While the foreign traditions and food keep you gripped, the story arc is too soppy to stand.
‘A Sugar & Spice Holiday’ premieres on December 13 at 8 pm ET on Lifetime.
