Ever since the best show ever (aka NBC's Friday Night Lights) ended in 2011, fans have been eager for news about a possible movie. This is, of course, not referring to the first movie (itself based on H.G. Bissinger's 1990 classic book about the 1988 Permian High School Panthers from Odessa, Texas) that the television show was based off of, but the second movie that would be based on the television show by the same name. (It's confusing.)
After news broke that Tami Taylor herself had a copy of the Peter Berg-produced FNL movie script in her possession, fans were ecstatic. Finally, we could find out if Tim Riggins built that house! If Matt and Julie ever got married! If Landry was ever indicted for that murder in season two! (Okay, bit of misstep, but it worked out.) But in the past 24 hours, it all came crashing down.
First, Berg told Collider.com, “There’s not gonna be a movie. We talked about it, some people thought it was a good idea, some didn’t; I’ve come to believe it’s probably not a good idea and I seriously doubt it’s gonna happen.”
Okay, so maybe Berg lost hope, but we certainly haven't, right? Wrong. On Monday, Taylor Kitsch, the dreamiest of the dreamboats himself (not editorializing, just stating facts), discussed the FNL movie with New York's Vulture blog, saying, "No, period. I'm not doing it. I'm never gonna be in that movie. There was already a movie! And the show ended fuckin' spot-on. We're good."
For the record, Kyle Chandler — who played Coach Eric Taylor — has pretty much always said the movie was a no-go.
This is so depressing. If you need me, I'll be at the Alamo Freeze.
Taylor Kitsch on Friday Night Lights movie: No f-ing way.
Courtesy of NBC Universal
Taylor Kitsch on Friday Night Lights movie: No f-ing way.
Few people are strong enough to resist the lure of Girl Scout cookie season every year, with the cookies’ limited availability and unique flavors a strong incentive to indulge. But only the girls and their families who have sold the cookies know the joys and stresses of trying to get people to buy them, a process that is detailed in the new documentary, Cookie Queens.
The film by documentarian Alysa Nahmias uses the stories of four different girls to represent the nationwide ritual for the Girl Scouts. They include 12-year-old Olive in Charlotte, North Carolina, a longtime top seller; 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth in El Paso, Texas, who wants to earn the reward of going to camp; 5-year-old Ara in San Diego, California, whose goal is modest compared to most other girls; and 9-year-old Nikki in Chino, California, who has to compete with her older sisters in the cookie-selling bonanza.
The girls represent a cross-section of both ages and backgrounds, with some girls coming from wealthy families and some girls dealing with more limited means. And how much money your family has makes a big difference, as not only does someone richer have more freedom with their time and supplies, but all scouts are required to reimburse the organization for every box they take in, regardless of whether they’re able to sell it or not.
That caveat makes the journeys of the four featured girls feel wildly different. It’s clear from the start that Olive and Nikki’s families don’t give a second thought to the personal economics of selling cookies, with each girl taking in thousands of boxes at the beginning of the six-week selling season. With both Olive and Nikki rightfully confident that they’ll have no problem offloading their supply, their stories turn to how selling is personally affecting them, with each trying to reconcile the fun of doing it with the pressure they feel from their family members.
Shannon Elizabeth’s story is more harrowing, as her parents feel a strong desire to help her accomplish her lofty goal, but worry that the cost might literally be too high for the family as a whole. More than once, the parents are shown fretting that they won’t have the money to pay back what they owe should they fall significantly short in their sales. Their selling approach, which includes walking through an empty swap meet and standing outside a chain restaurant at night, only adds to their stress.
The most fun story to watch is that of Ara, whose innocence is matched by her confidence. Her parents teach her how much money they’ll owe with her small goal of 55 boxes, but right away she takes on more responsibility than expected. She’s shown making sales pitches and tallying the total number of boxes she’s sold with little to no help from either her mom or dad. With her high voice, glasses, and a monitor on her arm to manage her diabetes, she becomes the cute and sympathetic part of the film.
There are times that the film starts to feel more than a little manipulative, however. While many of the moments documented come off as organic, some of them seem like Nahmias is actively guiding the participants in order to get a better story. This is especially evident with Shannon Elizabeth and her family, whose early struggles turn into a miraculous feel-good story by the end, a turnaround that seems implausible at best. Everything with them might have been aboveboard, but Nahmias and her team edit the family’s journey in a way that pushes a bit too hard for emotion.
Cookie Queens, which was produced by a company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, helps to give insight into the business of selling Girl Scout cookies for those who’ve only been on the purchasing end of the transaction. The dedication of each girl toward selling their allotted supply proves fun and interesting, even if the filmmaker tries to gild the lily on occasion.
