“A Sugar & Spice Holiday” is a sweet Lifetime Christmas movie and is heralded as the first Asian-American holiday movie for the network. Lifetime has been aiming to develop more diverse Christmas Movies, including Ali Stroker's "Christmas Ever After" and their first LGBTQ Christmas movie, "The Christmas Setup." The movie hits all the right notes for your sweet tooth with delightful baking references and an opposites-attract romance. The center of the plot is a journey of self-discovery that teaches Suzie (played by Jacky Lai) that it's perfectly okay to be imperfect.
The story of "Sugar & Spice" follows Suzie, who has her dream career as an architect who has landed her a potential new promotion, but only if she can compete with a co-worker up for the same job. That's not the only competition coming Suzie's way. After she heads home to Maine for Christmas, her old friend Billy pulls her into the Gingerlicious baking competition to save the local community center from destruction. In addition to Lai, the movie also stars Tzi Ma as her father, Lillian Lim as her mother, and Tony Giroux as Billy.
'Sugar & Spice' recap and review
“A Sugar & Spice Holiday” kicks off with an introduction to Nema, Suzie's grandmother, which is a poignant moment that sets the tone and the meaning of the movie.
The bond the two have set up Suzie's love for architecture and the baking competition. The Christmas movie humor has a sweet and playful tone with a deep meaning that touches upon life lessons that teach that it's okay to make mistakes and that perfection does not equal happiness. The beautiful and talented Jacky Lai joined the project for everything that it represented and for the character of Suzie, which she expressed in an interview with ET.
The actor went on to say that the ending was very empowering and different from what she's seen before. The Lifetime movie ends with Suzie getting her promotion and going to Australia with Billy in tow. Lai shared that she defers from her character in how she's more go with the flow while Suzie is more of a planner, but stated that both she and her character share a respect for family and culture.
In an interview with People, Lai shared that "A Sugar & Spice Holiday" further proves that the industry is changing and referenced how much of an impact Constance Wu's performance in “Crazy Rich Asians” had on her.
The Lifetime movie revolves around the competition, with Suzie in the constant state of competing and always working to be at her best. Suzie faces a real challenge from Marshall, who cozies up to their boss through organic and healthy foods, putting a damper on Suzie's attempt to reach out to her boss with cookies. Moments such as this show the mix of humor and playfulness that is worked into the Lifetime movie's writing while helping to pack the emotional punch of Suzie's self-discovery.
As with most Christmas movies, “A Sugar & Spice Holiday” comes with a deadline that the lead character faces, and for Suzie, she has until New Year's to get her house plans done to receive her promotion. Jacky Lai shared with ET that she hasn't been able to fully wrap her head around how "A Sugar & Spice Holiday" willfully affect people with Tony Giroux adding that he was so excited to be part of a project Giroux continued by sharing that his excitement was for how this was an Asian movie and an Asian story that worked within an American context. The diversity seen in the movie extends to behind the scene; which Lai told ET that the inclusive environment allowed the storytelling to be more authentic thanks to having people behind the camera being part of the same culture.
Billy is described as a jelly doughnut for he's messy, sweet, and full of surprises, which Tony Giroux plays to perfection with a charming blend of thoughtful and goofy that makes him excel at comic relief and romantic lead. Billy is the type of character that is immediately shown to have a comedic personality, which is the opposite of Suzie. She's serious and practical compared to his prankster attitude, which allows them to draw out different qualities from each other. The Lifetime movie mentions various pranks for humorous purposes Billy pulled, such as tricking townspeople into thinking Tom Cruise and filling the local pool with jello. Giroux informed ET that he was ecstatic that the Lifetime Christmas movie had these little nuances that showcased Asian culture and described that it was an incredible honor to do the movie and one that he didn't take lightly.
The other characters that weave into Suzie's life include Kaitlyn, who went from high school mean girl to the bubbliest friendliest person in town, and Stavros, who is a charming classically trained pastry chef. The characters add comic relief while also adding heart as background support that shows the community and gives Suzie a deeper-rooted connection to her hometown.
A sweet romantic comedy with sugar and spice
Billy and Suzie are the heart of the love story, with Jacky Lai and Tony Giroux showing off their dazzling chemistry with the two constantly challenging each other through their differences. The actors had nothing but nice things to share about each other, which is evident in an interview with ET where Lai shared that Giroux always tried to get everyone (on set) to laugh.
Giroux shared that Lai was such a delight to work with and gushed about her charming personality. The Lifetime movie has a sweet scene that is highly memorable when Suzie gets up in front of everyone to sing karaoke, which doesn't go entirely well, for she's not exactly the best singer. Billy steps in with an impromptu dance on stage to make her laugh and have fun. The romantic moments are in true Lifetime Christmas movie fashion with moments such as Billy making up for the school dance they missed, when Billy joins her family for dinner, and adorable kitchen bonding.
The Lifetime movie is playful and easy-going through its use of humor and the way the story captures the warmth of family. Her parents and her brother all have a way of pulling her back into the past, where she gets to spend the holiday stepping back into the parts of her past she left behind.
“A Sugar & Spice Holiday” has a sweet spot through its emotional core by not being afraid to let Suzie experience the pain of failure and bringing her down into a slump. Her mistake causes her team to lose round two of the competition, and her computer doesn't save her changes to the house plans that are meant to get her a promotion, she sends photos of Billy's idea to her boss, which upsets him. She gets a message from her friend at work that Marshall got the job. The Lifetime Christmas movie, though filled with comfort and joy, isn't shy about touching upon Suzie's emotional growth by showing her that failure is just part of life and not everything can be perfect. It's good to remember that this is a Christmas movie, which means the ending is happily ever after and finds that true love will always conquer all.
The 'Sugar & Spice' love story
The end of the Lifetime Christmas movie finds Suzie getting the promotion with a surprise twist that will send her to Australia for a year and has her team winning the competition. Jacky Lai gushed about when Suzie takes the opportunity, choosing this for herself, and Billy makes it clear he has every plan to go with her to Australia. The Lifetime movie's final moment jumps forward to the next Christmas with Billy and Suzy returning home and happily in love. Lai shared with ET that her favorite moment in the movie is when Suzie and Billy first meet and have immediate banter, which the actor shared was similar to how she and Tony Giroux are like in real life.
Some of the best sayings are in "A Sugar & Spice Holiday," which makes the movie highly quotable with lines like 'when life gives you crumbs, make pie crust' and 'teach someone to bake, and they will have a sweet life.' The Christmas movie also has enjoyable food comparisons with Suzie comparing her dad Pete to kettle corn for his always poppin' personality and for being a crowd-pleaser, her brother to rice pudding for being warm, comforting and always going with the flow, and her boss to peanut brittle for it can melt in your mouth and break your teeth.
Jacky Lai shared with People that throughout the movie, Suzie learns what life is really about and goes onto say how excited she is for her family to watch the movie. The Lifetime movie is a fun and endearing story that goes right to your sweet tooth in the best way and will be a great family holiday movie. Check out “A Sugar & Spice Holiday” at Lifetime.com until early January.
