La Guerre des cookies

Though I'm not the maternal type and particularly enjoy movies with kids, this one's charm was irresistible. It wasn't overly predictable and the storylines were enjoyable.

This movie is well done but you have to wonder how someone could write this and not feel like they're plagiarizing Troop Beverly Hills.

In this year's nominee for 'Most Original Concept', we have a misfit Girl Scout troupe (a fat one, a loner, a boy-crazy one etc) taken over temporarily(?) by a hard-nosed realtor bribed into this position by hopes of a promotion from her ex-scout boss. Obviously the two disparate parties can't stand each other at first, but what do you know... give them a bit of time and they might even beat their all-powerful all-conquering main rivals, preside over by a snotty club leader who's performance is by no way inspired by Sue Sylvester of Glee fame!

Yeah, so everything about this Made-For-TV is predictable and contrived, from the tacked-on love interest thrown in just for the sake of it (remember kids:NEVER let your career get in the way of a Good Man) to the treacly 'life lessons' learnt at the end tossed around like cheap cookies. Despite all this though, it still manages to be somewhat entertaining, thanks in no small part to some spirited performances from the youngsters and some surprisingly moving moments (A lot of schmaltz too, but it comes with the territory).

So while this one ain't gonna win any awards, considering its limited ambition & scope I'd say it just about does the job it sets out for. Put it this way: there are FAR worse ways to pass a boring Sunday morning... I would list them here, but I'm too bored. 5/10.

People! Calm down. This isn't a documentary. The leader would probably need to go through some type of training (although I did not have to for Boy Scout Den Leader!). There's such a shortage of participation by parents - sometimes they are happy just to get someone to volunteer. This is a lighthearted movie - not FACTUAL by any means. The leader and the girls work well together in the end. I thought it was cute with some laugh-out-loud funny moments.

AND yes it was explained why the real estate woman took on the troop leader role. Her firm was looking at being bought by a larger firm. All of the agents took on a community project for 90 days to show their involvement. She was the only female - so she got the Girl Scout Troop.

Overall very cute.

It is a harmless, safe, movie with a good moral. If this were a feature film with A-list celebrities, I would probably expect more drama and more intense dialogue and rate this eight stars but it's a Hallmark movie and produces what one watches a Hallmark movie to get: comfort food that isn't junk food. It has affable characters, a cute plotline, and a happy ending. Since it does everything it is supposed to do, namely, produce light yet wholesome audiovisual fare for a lazy afternoon, I give it ten stars.