Smart Cookies

By Margie Barron on August 10th, 2012 Printer-Friendly

"Smart Cookies" airs on the Hallmark Channel.

Winding down the two weeks of the television press tour, one of the last great gatherings was for the Hallmark network to make some big announcements. During an elegant luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hallmark's president and CEO Bill Abbott talked about the full schedule of movies, specials, and daytime shows. Bragging about the "incredible talent we have," Abbott looked around the room at the stars of the upcoming original movies, which are at the core of the Hallmark Channel's "robust family content."Abbott announced that Smart Cookies, premiering Aug. 18, is another great movie with a mission, "to help celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the USA,".

Patricia Richardson (of Home Improvement fame), who stars with Jessalyn Gilsig (Glee) and Bailee Madison (Just Go With It)said "Smart Cookies" is about a real estate agent who helps a hapless Girl Scout troop with their annual cookie sale competition. Behind the scenes, executive producer Jimmy Hawkins, who was a popular child actor in the '40s '50's &'60's and played Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed's son Tommy Bailey in the Frank Capra classic It's a Wonderful Life."Smart Cookies" is based on Hawkins story "Be Prepared". Nowadays he's producing great family friendly movies for a new generation. Richardson said she was "so delighted to work with him because when you do a production like this, we all become like a family. He's one of the nicest guys in show business, and when you are working with children, when you have a producer who knows what it's like, it brings a great quality to the set."

This is an absolutely bog-standard Hall Channel TV movie. Jessalyn Gilsig is a fast-talking, glib real estate saleswoman whose wardrobe consists solely of business suits. She is trying to sell a hideous ultra-modern home by having the kitchen repainted mushroom and putting an apple pie on display to give it that lived-in look. Of course her boss decides she is just the woman to lead a troop of girl scouts, each of whom has enormous issues -- presumably this is to give them personality and some obvious hooks to hang their improvements on.

This being exactly like every other poor Hallmark TV comedy, it quickly becomes evident that 1: no one has any talent for physical comedy; 2: Gilsig will fall in love with the obnoxious working-class father of the girl scout who talks the most; and 3: they will become involved in a fierce competition to sell more cookies than the perfect girl scouts and will win through grit and gumption.

There's nothing wrong with this plot and were it offered with any sign of someone on hand to do anything to make it stand out, I might be less harsh in this review. However, the only thing that stands out is the abrupt change in lighting levels, from a gloomy flat lighting in the beginning that suddenly changes to a brighter, yellower level to reflect the change in attitude of Ms. Gilsig. The actors on hand seem handsome and competent, even if their performances are exactly like those of every other actor in the equivalent roles in other bad Hallmark TV romcoms.

Unfortunately, whether because they considered this an undesirable job or because they are simply hacks with no real interest in their jobs, the people behind the cameras have performed their work by doing whatever is obvious and easy. It takes more than showing up, putting out an apple pie and smiling at the customer to sell a house. It also calls for more than that to make an interesting TV movie.

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's a made-for-TV movie, so there are the usual issues. The plot is very predictable. The synopsis is that a flawed working-woman who isn't good with kids ends up taking charge of a girls scout. Tell me if you haven't seen a similar plot before? ... I think anyone familiar with movies can predict what sort of character arc and conclusion the movie would have (the kids will change her, right?). Since it's so family-friendly, some of the dialogue and scenes come off as sappy

But nonetheless, the movie isn't a hard watch. The acting is good, the kids are adorable, and there are some decent laughs (the scenes with the big-shot guy named Troy are good). It's not all bad.

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.