SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Varying from 60 boxes to over 8,000, four young Girl Scouts — Nikki in Chino, Olive in Charlotte, Ara in San Diego and Shannon Elizabeth in El Paso — create their Girl Scout Cookie sales goals for the season. It’s up to them (and those closest to them) to figure out how to reach their individual communities, how to best hook customers and how to hustle to meet their goals. All four coming from different walks of life, each family takes on financial risk and/or makes personal sacrifices in an effort to support their Girl Scout. But at what cost? Is it worth giving up every weekend to peddle cookies in which they only see $1.10 of the $6 cost go back to their troop? Are the girls really learning valuable lessons? Does the experience truly build character or does it cause burnout?
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
If you scroll or watch the news and live under the notion that the youth of America is lost, doesn’t have the right mindset or lacks the discipline to succeed, watch COOKIE QUEENS. Your outlook will instantly be redeemed.
Nikki, Ara, Shannon Elizabeth and Olive will be running companies — or, at the very least, holding leadership positions in said companies — by 2045 and the world will be far better for it. There is no denying the determination, resourcefulness, creativity and drive of these amazing young people and COOKIE QUEENS allows us to witness that on-screen.
Not to be overlooked are their incredible families. From Nikki’s role model sisters to Shannon Elizabeth’s selfless mom and dad, behind every impressive kid is clearly a supportive household. Seeing Olive deal with the social pressures of carrying too much responsibility within her troop, and hearing Nikki ask her sisters why they would ever want to be young again when all she wants to do is be older, adds an even deeper personal element that the viewer isn’t expecting.
Without attacking the organization, COOKIE QUEENS carefully calls out Girl Scouts of America for their predatory business practices. These four girls — and countless troops everywhere — are basically unpaid salesmen so the organization can sell nearly a billion dollars in cookies every single year. It’s basically legal child labor, which is infuriating. Not to mention these families are pre-purchasing the product and are on the hook financially if they don’t sell their inventory which, in turn, puts a grossly unhealthy amount of pressure on elementary and middle school-aged students all over the country.
That said, it’s truly impressive to see these girls present their own ideas on how to succeed, figure out possible solutions on their own, persevere and grow right in front of our eyes.
While COOKIE QUEENS shines a giant, bright light on the future leaders our world, there’s no denying it also shines a giant (albeit subtle) light on the predatory practices of the Girl Scouts of America which should infuriate everyone to their core. As a result, director Alysa Nahmias gives us one of the best documentaries of 2026.
Also, I really want some Tagalongs.
JKG SCORE: 8.0 out of 10
Untitled Film Project 