This film is a prime example of shabby, lazy and incompetent filmmaking. Co-writer and director Vic Sarin ruined what could've easily been a decent viewing experience, with his amateur-hour directing, choppy editing, and a screenplay riddled with plot holes and technical issues. Scenes came out of nowhere and/or ended abruptly with zero rhyme or reason. It's like they were randomly taped together after passing through a shredder. There was so much information missing in many scenes, while many others were questionable as to why they were even filmed. This felt like a really terrible made-for-TV Lifetime movie. The 101 min runtime wasn't used effectively. Even with the fairly decent pacing, it still felt long and dragged out with the incohesive scenes and lack of proper narrative flow. Sarin also failed to direct his cast properly, as most seemed like it was their first acting job. The only convincing character was Chloe played by Katherine McNamara. It's a huge missed opportunity, because the story sure has appeal, but too bad the execution failed the story. It's a very generous 5/10 from me, mostly for the cast who I'm sure tried their best with what they had to work with, and the decent scenic views at the various ports.
Review of Sugar
