Film Review: SUGAR BABIES: Rachel Fleit’s Documentary Shows Us a Daring Glimpse Inside a Young Lady’s Complex Situations [Sundance 2025]

Sugar Babies Review

Sugar Babies (2025) Film Review from the 48th Annual Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Rachel Fleit and starring Autumn Johnson.

Director Rachel Fleit follows the escapades of a young girl from Louisiana in the generally probing documentary, Sugar Babies. Autumn Johnson, the girl Fleit follows in the film, is a true character in and of herself and while her appeal is limited at first, the more one gets to know her, the more the possibility opens up to warm up to her particular situations and life choices. Sugar Babies doesn’t delve too deep into what Johnson does to make money on social media and networking apps but rather gives us a broad overview of what drives Johnson to do the things that she does. This film just scratches the surface but is still entertaining because of Johnson’s offbeat personality.

Johnson had a scholarship to college but lost it due to poor grades. In order to make money, she decided to talk to men over 40-years-old who had money and were willing to give it up to her without actually meeting. In one scene in this film, Johnson ponders the idea of possibly getting intimate with a man in person just for money but since she has a boyfriend, that’s off the table -at least for now it is, anyway.

Fleit loves Johnson or respects her. It’s hard to tell which one during the course of this movie but the audience doesn’t love or respect her at first. She seems too self-confident and too willing to take big risks. Though the viewer may await the consequences of her actions, there aren’t many. This is more a tale of self-awareness and about coming of a mature age. It still skims the surface of Johnson’s risky networking propositions which are sometimes humorous and, other times, kind of pathetic.

It so happened that Johnson gave words of advice to girls on how to make money in a “safe” way by exploiting rich men who had money they were willing to part with. She’s not a good role model but her ability to do what she did when she did it not only paved the way for a more hopeful future for herself, it also opened up the question as to why men are so willing to part with their money just for a little time speaking to a young girl. It’s easy to feel sorry for the men who are clearly being made fools out of but, at the same time, there’s not much talk about unsatisfied customers which makes Johnson something of a legend for being able to make money without “pissing people off.”

There are other characters in the movie. One of them is a pregnant friend of Autumn’s but Autumn Johnson is clearly the star here and she’s a true original in terms of possessing a very unique personality. Johnson knew the realities of the situation in her hometown. Those truths included the fact that the minimum wage was a mere $7.00 and change for the longest time and Autumn was aware she would have to work several jobs to make ends meet if she didn’t do what she did. By exploiting men’s desires, she came up with cash that would have been impossible to earn any other way and she got a Dodge Charger to show for it and she eventually finished her education.

Sugar Babies is somewhat bare bones in terms of its dissection of Autumn’s deceitful but ingenious techniques of making money. That being said, it’s impossible to look away from the screen because one can’t help but wonder what Autumn will say or do next. She’s fiercely unpredictable and smart but also blunt and awkward in her revelations of how she perceives the world around her. This film could have went more into the logistics of what she talked to these men about but perhaps the lack of details means she didn’t do much to earn the large amounts of money that she did. Sometimes a man just needs a few minutes of fun or conversation to be willing to part with his hard-earned cash. Autumn seized an opportunity and is kind of admirable though it’s debatable as to whether she did or did not do the “right thing.” She certainly took advantage of people but did anyone feel she was worth the money? Her customers would know best.

Sundance typically screens good and unique documentaries every year and Sugar Babies is the type of picture you would expect to come from the festival. It cuts deep but not too deep and it makes you intrigued for the duration of its running time. It’s enjoyable and, ultimately, slightly forgettable. Autumn Johnson is some sort of genius, though. She’s the type of criminal you invite in and ask her to take your money because she’s just so charismatic. If that doesn’t make sense to you, Sugar Babies probably isn’t for you.

Rating: 7/10

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