The concept of the sugar baby remains as easy to explain as its apparent longevity, as Wikipedia confirms its apparent centuries-old existence; simply put, a sugar baby is someone who, lacking income and/or access to vast funds, engages in a relationship with someone who’s the opposite, all in an effort to enjoy the latter’s wealth while providing something in return akin to dating and beyond. The focus of the sugar baby remains fixated on the money from the start, with many displaying a charade in their interactions with the similarly named sugar daddy or mommy; those on the giving end may or may not realize the true nature of the situation. Would a documentary carrying the name “Sugar Babies” delve into this world, offering an expose on these individuals, the history of the sugar baby, and interviews with those who’ve carried both the name of the film and the sugar daddies/mommies fueling it all?
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The answer is no. Not really, anyway.
“Sugar Babies” shifts the premise from a potential all-encompassing look at such a longstanding phenomenon to one particular sugar baby, a teenager named Autumn. Hailing from an impoverished town in rural Louisiana, we’re introduced to our subject as she speaks at length about career aspirations, her close-knit group of friends, and her day-to-day activities; nothing about anyone initially seems necessarily off-kilter, but only a few minutes in and Autumn has gone live on social media, where her unabashed knack for making money via her own usage of the sugar baby moniker soon becomes apparent. Autumn, it seems, has found a way to manipulate the idea of the sugar baby in a manner that sees her collecting money, oftentimes a decent sum, from a line of providers who Autumn will never meet in person. It’s tremendously one-sided, and Autumn knows how to make it work. 
As expected, living in such a poor community hasn’t been easy. Speaking about having lost a college scholarship sometime prior and the subsequent economic decimation COVID-19 laid upon her town, the film takes periodic breaks to showcase news broadcasts in which increasing Louisiana’s minimum wage has shown to be rejected time and again since 2021. Is Autumn’s overall plan simply a way to escape poverty?
“Sugar Babies” could easily be viewed through a slice-of-life lens, as periodic detours occur when the group decides to go kayaking and converse about illicit activities they enjoy off-camera. However, outings such as this sit as opportunities to take photos for use on Autumn’s online profile, thus maintaining the artificial persona she hopes will continue to produce results. Occasional TikToks showcasing Autumn dancing with any number of her friends serve as another reminder of this, one of which may result in a particular song about accountants earworms its way into your brain as much as the best of The Lonely Island.
Throughout “Sugar Babies,” Autumn speaks at length, detailing the elaborate process of how she’s able to acquire funds; there’s an undeniable shamelessness, unhindered when Autumn or her sugar baby cohorts admit to using men, the scam of it all and the lies they use to sustain their various guises online. There’s even a moment or two when Autumn can be seen teaching virtual classes on how everyone can successfully execute her plan, but the moment the camera turns off and the real world re-enters the chat, the conversation turns towards the numerous pregnancies of her group of friends, the hope for the best alongside the future’s dim prospects and even a moment in the film’s third act where it seems Autumn may be ready to take her plan from the confines of her bedroom to a public encounter in the form of a date. 
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As “Sugar Babies” approaches the finish line, Autumn can be seen musing over the distance she’s now apparently placed from the sugar baby lifestyle; though a relief to hear, it does little to render “Sugar Babies” as anything but a disjointed look at a specific subset of society but with a timely release as TikTok undergoes a highly public process that’s seen the app banned, then unbanned just as fast. MTV’s legendary documentary program “True Life” once profiled both those in a sugar baby relationship in addition to those who lived an entirely different life online; both episodes spent the right amount of time with each of its several subjects, but by seemingly taking the focus to one such person and extending it over 81 minutes does the film evolve from an intriguing premise to an unnecessary drag. The messages director Rachel Fleit has attempted to bring onscreen become lost in their own wake as scenes shift quickly; in a way, it is in keeping with the attention span of the TikTok generation, and much like your average TikTok, it will be over before you know it. [C-]
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