Critic's Grade: C-

Frank's film tip: Young gals, pack your sleeping bags and look elsewhere because SLEEPOVER is a tepid teen romp that doesn't hold "sixteen candles" to its updated John Hughes-inspired coming-of-age high school farce

Ah, the wonders of teenage tarts and their wanting to grow up immediately before their time. For those out there that haven't had their fixation with the Olsen Twins' entry into young wayward womanhood digested yet can seek comfort in yet another scenario regarding underage coming-of-age cuties succumbing to the peer pressure of belonging. Well, we're given the opportunity to see Spy Kids little lass Alexa Vega leave behind her cutesy gadget goings-on and assume some spicy makeover as a mischievous high schooler-to-be looking to stretch her wily wings in the teen scene girlie vehicle Sleepover. Although clearly designed to hook the targeted audience of giddy adolescent gals searching for that main ingredient to allow them to adjust to their itchy growing pains, Sleepover simply doesn't register as a frivolous feminine farce.

Director Joe Nussbaum and writer Elisa Bell haphazardly deliver the sketchy and predictable goods while never bothering to reinforce the movie's high jinks with anything imaginative or fresh. The material is silly-minded and to a certain extent very irresponsible in its showcase of having these school-aged loony-minded Lolitas expose themselves to forbidden fraternization that includes mingling with clueless younger guys. Also, they willingly swing their firm fannies around stupid older men that are as horny as a room full of unicorns. Mix in the fact that these saucy sasses are encouraged to have alcohol served to them via a bet as well as breaking-and-entering into a boy's house to steal his underwear as some cheesy challenge of sorts and you have yourself the making of a desperate and dumb prepubescent prank. Granted young girls will probably flock to this movie as they would a Chad Michael Murray poster on their bedroom wall. However, Sleepover is not necessarily the kind of inviting pee-wee chick flick that parents should take lightly when accompanying their 10-year old daughters to the screening.

Julie Corky (Alexa Vega) is a 14-year old faced with some daunting changes in her personal life. The anxiety of entering high school is certainly on her mind as she gets ready to abandon her middle school existence. Of course this is not the only transition that she must endure. Julie's best friend Hannah (Mika Boorem, Riding in Cars with Boys) is set to move away with her family in a few days. This leaves Julie very much vulnerable. After all, she will be heading off to high school without her security blanket Hannah to share in the misery of coping with the unknown cruelties of secondary school and its demanding expectations in studying and socializing. With Hannah departing, obviously things won't be the same for Julie as she contemplates her upcoming four-year academic prison sentence as a test to her individuality as a potential unpopular student.

In the spirit of celebrating their last moments together, the twosome decide to throw a nighttime slumber party and lose the trepidation of what will be in the delightful distractions of pizza, pop tunes and perfume. Both Julie and Hannah decide to invite two other galpals in Yancy (Kallie Flynn Childress) and Farrah (Scout-Taylor Compton). So the scene is set for an evening of girlish bonding. Julie's parents Gabby (Jane Marsh from A Mighty Wind) and Jay (Jeff Garlin from Daddy Day Care and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm) offer one stipulation--that the girls stay put in the house without wandering off. If this conditioning is violated then Julie loses her privileges to go on a Hawaiian vacation. Naturally, there's an obstacle that Julie must overcome which means disobeying her parents' warning. With her livelihood into high school hell on the line, Julie has no choice but to accept the consequences and embark on an adventure worth taking even if it's at the expense of her treasured trip to the Islands.

Enter Stacie (Sara Paxton), the stuck-up popular princess about town and leader of her clique of cool friends. Stacie's agenda is plain and simple: she issues out to Julie and her bunch a scavenger hunt contest. The group of gals that completes all the listed tasks at hand first leading up to the obligatory high school Big Dance will benefit fabulously on campus. So what's the ultimate prize up for grabs? The winners will get the honorable status of sitting at the preferred lunch spot in the school while the unlucky ones must adhere to the humiliation of having lunch near the dumpsters thus spending their freshmen year in matriculating misery.

And thus the good ole scavenger hunt ensues as Julie and Stacie and their minions try to pull off the quirky shenanigans in an attempt to win the trivial respectability of claiming the prestige that is the glorified "lunch table". One of the tasks in particular is a conflict to poor Julie as she must obtain the boxers from high school heartthrob Steve (Sean Faris), the object of her starving affection. Also, in accomplishing these risky tasks, the minor girls must require the usage of cars. However, not being the right driving age for these 14-year old detention hall divas won't stop them from doing what they have to do in order to win the high price stakes aimed at experiencing the freshmen high school hierarchy.

Sleepover inspires to be in the training bra tradition of John Hughes-oriented teen comedies such as Sixteen Candles where the increasing growth of girl-power looking to explore the wacky intricacies toward young womanhood is a turbulent yet touching examination. Movies like Girls Just Want to Have Fun are purposely disjointed and delirious in their high-spirited makeup. But in a suggestive age where prepubescent girls are more wicked and tuned into a sensationalized pop culture bubble that produces polished pin-up pop tarts like Britney Spears as a blueprint for spontaneous girlie gumption, Sleepover feels rather tame and toothless as a teen romp. Consequently, it has nothing more to say than the merry-minded melodramas that Hughes has cleverly constructed before in his smirking ode to suburban fare of teen angst.

Riddled with uneven dialogue and shameless exaggerated pokes at youth-oriented prototypes (snobby girls, slacker skater boys, underdogs, outcasts, misfits, etc.), Sleepover is lacking in its ability to convey a frothy feminine fable about transitional girls and their apparent anxieties. There's a tired by-the-numbers execution that deems Nussbaum's narrative as a faceless, routine-minded ruse. Even having the girls curiously dance enthusiastically to the Spice Girls (as opposed to contemporary music chart champs Jessica Simpson or the aforementioned Britney Spears) at their slumber party seems rather passe and odd. The once immensely coveted British songbirds no longer have the musical clout they previously enjoyed in what amounts to be a lifetime ago. Why would a 14-year old gal get funky to the Spice Girls in 2004 and not to someone who's hip and current such as Pink or Nellie Furtado?

One of the main comic relief highlights involve the presence of Julie's dimwitted older brother Ren (Sam Huntington) whose limited screen time serves as a genuine subversive peek to this otherwise tepid teen queen tale of book bags and banal bad boys.

Unfortunately, some may become rather drowsy at this Sleepover as it is yet another anemic manufactured teen flick that will be filed in the forgettable movie basket. Fittingly, this movie's indirect inspiration Sixteen Candles will never have its fire blown out as it stands the test of time with its nutty nostalgic look a teenaged tendencies with refreshing forethought.

Yet with Sleepover, the cheesy sentiment only lasts as long as the aftertaste of a fried Twinkie.

Frank rates this film: ** stars (out of 4 stars)

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