I had the opportunity to see an early screener of Cookie Queens, the new documentary now playing in theaters this weekend, and I have to say, this one gave me a LOT to think about.
The documentary follows a handful of young girls involved in the Girl Scouts during what they call “cookie season.” We meet them as they set their goals for how many boxes they want to sell and then follow them throughout the season to see how they handle those goals, the pressure that comes with them, and ultimately what the outcome looks like.
On the surface, it’s about Girl Scout cookies. We’ve all seen them. We’ve probably all bought a box or two. But then you learn that this is an $800 million revenue source for the Girl Scouts, and that number immediately made me look at the entire process a little differently. These are little girls out there selling cookies, and there is a massive business behind it.
I also have to be honest about something before getting into the rest of this review: I went into Cookie Queens with a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to the Girl Scouts.
When I was around six or seven years old, a friend of mine brought me to one of her Brownie meetings. It was one of those “bring a friend” situations, where they were trying to get more girls interested in joining. My mom let me go, and I remember them trying to get us to sign up. The problem was that it cost money, and my family simply didn’t have it. I remember being devastated because, at six or seven years old, the whole experience felt very elitist to me.
So, yes, I recognize that I walked into this documentary with some preconceived feelings.
That said, the girls featured in Cookie Queens are absolutely magnificent. These are some of the most intelligent, articulate, driven and impressive young women I’ve seen in a documentary in a long time. Whatever happens with their relationship with the Girl Scouts, I have no doubt these girls are going to go on and do some pretty incredible things. Watching them set goals, work toward them and navigate the expectations placed on them was genuinely inspiring.
The documentary also gives us a look at the different family dynamics surrounding these girls, and that’s where things become even more interesting. One mother was never part of the Girl Scouts herself and desperately wanted to be when she was younger. Now she has all three of her daughters involved. Another mother is extremely focused on making sure her daughter is goal-oriented and successful. She insists the sales goals are her daughter’s decision, but the daughter openly talks about feeling pressure and not wanting to disappoint her mom. And we’re talking about a little girl.
Then there is another family that doesn’t have a lot of money, and the financial side of the cookie business becomes especially eye-opening. I didn’t realize that when a girl sets a goal of selling 1,000 boxes of cookies, those 1,000 boxes are actually delivered. You don’t simply say, “Well, we didn’t sell them, so we’ll send them back.” The family is responsible for those cookies.
At $6 a box, that’s $6,000.
The girls make around a dollar per box, which then goes into a pot that can be used toward prizes. And some of these prizes aren’t small. We’re talking about things like trips to Disney World, along with other elaborate rewards and merchandise. When you start looking at the money, the sales goals, the pressure, the prizes and the financial responsibility placed on families, the entire structure started to feel very strange to me.
One of the girls even talks about wishing someone like her could have a say in the programming and where the money is spent. I thought that was brilliant because it gets to a larger question that the documentary itself doesn’t really answer: What happens beyond cookie season?
It’s important to understand that Cookie Queens isn’t really a documentary about the Girl Scouts’ programs. It doesn’t explain what the organization does with all of this money or give you a deep look at the opportunities and initiatives available to these girls. The documentary is primarily about cookie season, the girls selling the cookies, and the families navigating the process.
And now I have questions.
I want to go to the Girl Scouts website and look at the programs themselves. I want to know what they’re doing with that $800 million. I want to see whether they highlight successful women who came through the organization and how they connect the cookie-selling experience to those larger opportunities. I also want to understand more about who has access to these programs and whether there is government assistance involved.
Because, again, I’m looking at this through my own experience, and Cookie Queens made me wonder whether participating in the Girl Scouts requires a certain level of financial stability and parental involvement. I don’t know the answers to those questions yet, and I’m not going to pretend that I do. But the fact that the documentary made me curious enough to want to find out is something I appreciate.
What I also don’t want to get lost in all of this is how incredible these girls are. Watching them figure things out, set goals, deal with pressure and take ownership of what they’re doing was genuinely fascinating. There is something incredibly inspiring about watching these young women already develop skills that will likely serve them well throughout their lives.
And from a filmmaking perspective, Cookie Queens is very well done. Filmmaker Alyssa Nimyias does a fantastic job capturing these girls and their families without turning the documentary into something overly complicated. I was impressed enough that I’m going to seek out some of her other documentaries because she clearly knows how to tell these kinds of stories.
Ultimately, Cookie Queens left me with a lot of questions about the Girl Scouts and the business behind those iconic cookies, while also giving me the opportunity to watch some truly remarkable young women.
It’s inspiring. It’s thought-provoking. And, for me, it was a lot more complicated than I expected a documentary about Girl Scout cookies to be.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Cookie Queens is in theaters this weekend and is absolutely worth checking out.
