Sleepover

A 14-year-old girl (Alexa Vega) and her pals sneak out of the house on a scavenger hunt. Their opponents: the cool chicks from school. The prize: the best lunchtime seats next year. Writer Elisa Bell and director Joe Nussbaum set their sights low, trying for a harmless time-killer designed to separate preadolescent girls from their parents’ money. Even at that, they miss the target entirely, producing a dull-witted, trivial, perfunctory bore. The inexperienced Nussbaum doesn’t show much enthusiasm for the material (understandably enough, because it’s an ungainly clump of recycled bits from movies good and bad), nor does he know how to build a scene or where to put the camera. Vega showed charm and presence in the Spy Kids movies, but she needs a lot more help than Bell or Nussbaum give her here.