Sugar Town MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -4

The Los Angeles music industry is mildly satirized in this collection of loosely-connected former and wannabe music stars. Gwen (Jade Gordon) will do almost anything to be a new music star. Burt (Larry Klein), a former Grammy winning producer, tries to revive his career with a band of former rock stars. He can get backing if the bands singer, Nick (Michael Des Barres), sleeps with Jane, the benefactor (Beverly DAngelo). Clive (John Taylor), the guitarist, still has groupies at his door but is married to Eva (Rosanna Arquette), a horror film actress. A former groupie drops off a boy she claims is Clives son. Evas best friend, Liz (Ally Sheedy), a film production designer, desires to start a family. Carl (John Doe), a studio musician, has a pregnant wife, a small farm and a former drug using brother. All the characters are woven into this confusing look at games played in the music world. Unless lots of fans of former rock music stars or the music industry show up, audiences will be sparse.

The image-conscious Los Angeles culture follows whatever fad belief is current. Liz is given an Eastern mystical reading and massage. The mother of Clives son, Nirvan, moves from one religious compound to another convent-type group. Eva befriends Nirvan, although Clive refuses to admit hes the father. Nick wears make-up and prefers dating young girls, but he learns that experience comes with age. Sex is implied with Jane, a former prostitute. Gwen steals clothes and jewelry as Lizs maid, takes a drug addicts songs and claims them as her own, and provides sexual comfort to Lizs date. Characters often refer to drug use and being in rehab. Carls brother calls himself a junkie. Carls wife is shown topless in the shower and in a birthing scene. To his credit, Carl leaves a tour when he gets in a sexually compromising position. Gutter language is abundant with 59 f-words, 17 s-words, 11 moderate crudities, and 26 regular profanities. With gratuitous nudity, sexual content, garbage dialogue and frequent drug references, theres nothing sweet about SUGAR TOWN.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor: October Films, 65 Bleecker St., NY, NY 10112, (212) 332-2480