Movie Review: ‘Cookie Queens’

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Review by James Lidorf

Girl Scout cookies are one of the few products in American life that almost everyone has interacted with, whether as a seller, a buyer, or a coworker being cornered in the break room by well-meaning parents. That universal connection gives “Cookie Queens” a built-in emotional entry point that most documentaries have to work much harder to establish. The film is executive produced by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry. Their involvement is a marketing decision more than a creative one. They may genuinely believe in the program, and she may have personal experience with Girl Scouts, but none of that surfaces in the film. They are lending their names and their credibility, and that is the extent of their contribution. “Cookie Queens” won the Festival Favorite Audience Award at SXSW, after premiering at Sundance, and arrives in theaters on August 7th through Roadside Attractions.

Director Alysa Nahmias, whose Emmy-winning documentary work includes “Art & Krimes by Krimes,” brings a confident and fully observational approach to the material, conducting no formal interviews and instead spending months earning the trust of four girls and their families during a single cookie season. That trust is visible on screen. These girls are not performing for the camera. They are simply being themselves, which is the hardest thing to capture in documentary filmmaking and the thing Nahmias does best.

One thing that makes the film work so well is the differences between the girls. Olive is twelve, ambitious, and already thinking about the Supreme Court. She is the reigning top seller in her high-selling Charlotte troop. When she breaks the North Carolina state record, she uses her local news platform to advocate for Girl Scouts who are doing the groundwork. It is a genuinely powerful moment, even if it is hard not to notice the shadow of her mother, who approaches cookie season with the energy of someone who loves having a child at the top of any ladder.
Nikki is nine and selling in Chino, California, motivated by the trophies and experiences her older sisters won and the trip to Europe she hopes to replicate. Her mother, Teresa, signed them all up for Girl Scouts to create an uplifting space for her Black daughters in a majority-white community, and their Cookie Dad, Aaron, has never missed a booth in ten years. Shannon Elizabeth is eight, from El Paso, and her family has committed to selling enough cookies to win her a free summer camp. It is a decision that comes with real financial stakes attached to a goal set by a child. The film handles that pressure honestly but stops short of asking the harder question it raises. Should these families be held financially responsible for supporting the organization? Nahmias offers no alternative selling approaches or theories. The film celebrates the girls while revealing an organization whose priorities appear to lean more toward individual box counts than the troop experience its branding promises. However, it is up to the viewer to intuit this subtext because if the families aren’t talking about it, it will not be in the film. Olive and her family are the only ones talking about the larger organization, and they love being on top.

The standout subject for me was five-year-old Ara, from San Diego. She has Type 1 Diabetes, which means she can only taste small amounts of the cookies she sells with remarkable enthusiasm. Where the other three are motivated by external goals, Ara sells cookies for the joy of the experience itself. Which is surprisingly high for someone who only sold five boxes the year before, but she loves getting out, talking to people, and playing music to move those cookies. That intrinsic motivation in a kindergartner is endearing and makes her the easiest to root for across the film’s 91 minutes.

There are only so many ways to sell cookies, and the film does become repetitive in its middle section as the four storylines cycle through booths, door knocking, and family pep talks. The locations, Charlotte, San Diego, Chino, and El Paso, matter less than the families themselves, with the possible exception of Olive’s etiquette and dance lessons adding a specific Southern texture to her story. What carries the film through its repetitive stretches are the emotional moments, most notably Olive’s waffling between wanting to sell sell sell like her mother wants and the draw of hanging out with friends. These moments are genuine and frequent enough to justify the runtime.

“Cookie Queens” is warm, well-made, and easy to recommend on streaming, where its charms are well suited to the format. At theatrical prices, it asks more than a surface-level exploration of cookie selling can deliver. For Girl Scout families, documentary enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever been handed an order form by a determined child, it will be an enjoyable 91-minute earning “Cookie Queens” a 4 out of 5.

Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): August 7th, 2026
Runtime: 1h 31m
Director: Alysa Nahmias
Producer: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, Alysa Nahmias, Jennifer Sims
Screenwriter: Alysa Nahmias
Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Production Co: Beautiful Stories, AJNA Films, Archewell Productions