Cookie Queens

Grade: B

I chose to go from ice cream to cookies in my moviegoing journey. After seeing Ice Cream Man, Eli Roth’s campy, blood-soaked suburban caper, I intentionally went with Cookie Queens next. As it’s a documentary about the Girl Scout cookie “business,” there’s not much comparison you can make between the two films, other than each one has its place in American life, whether you’re anticipating some Thin Mints in the spring or being happily surprised by the jingle reverberating from a van in your neighborhood on a lazy summer day.

Cookie Queens is adorable. No other word for it. I can’t imagine anyone not being endeared by this delightful documentary, executive produced by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan. It follows the experiences of four girls. Olive is 12, and has consistently been the top seller in her troop for most, if not all, of the seven years she has been hawking the goods. She has even been on the news as the state champion cookie seller of North Carolina. Ara is 5 years old and is based out of San Diego. She has Type 1 diabetes and can only partake in her product in moderation, if at all, but she’s working on developing a sugar-free alternative. Nikki is 9 years old and comes from a long line of former Girl Scouts, including her two older sisters and her mother. Finally, we have 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth, not to be confused with the 52-year-old actress who famously played Nadia in American Pie.

As much as I enjoyed the overall result, I never forgot that this is a G-rated documentary about selling Girl Scout cookies. The premise itself isn’t always enough to sustain a movie. I was always brought back from any lulls by Este Haim’s score, and there are at least two fantastic needle-drops that punctuate the action, such as it is. My favorite scene was Olive’s talk with her mother about how she has been putting lots of pressure on herself, perceives pressure from her mom, and wants to take it easier with the sales next year, if she’ll even still be doing it then. The camera continues to roll and capture this candid conversation. Olive is wise and articulate beyond her years, and this “dialogue” is more thoughtful and natural than what you would get from most screenwriters.

I won’t spoil who the top seller is, but you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure it out. I originally typed “winner” instead of “top seller,” but I believe that you are already a winner, whether you move 10 boxes or 5,000. You are out there on the front lines as ambassadors for the cause, and that’s a victory no matter what.

Upon seeing the trailer for Cookie Queens, I initially thought it was a regular fictional movie, with actresses playing these fast-talking, precocious little girls who wheel, deal, scheme, and connive their way to the title—like Snack Shack, except instead of teenage boys running their neighborhood pool’s snack bar, it’s Girl Scout cookie saleswomen. That idea sounds cool, and I would love to see it someday, but finding out these are real people in a documentary somehow makes it more special.

Grade: B