Image from IMDB, official movie poster
Currently available on Netflix Canada (29/07/18)
After spending spending several months in prison for insider trading, Michelle Darnelle soon finds out her life wasn't all what it was cracked up to be. Finding that many of her so-called friends are quick to abandon her, she finds her climb back to the top wont be as easy as she thought it would be. Her assistant, Claire on the other, is convinced by Michelle to sell her brownies as the staple of a new business: the Darnelle's Darlings, a Girl Guide style troop, selling the brownies for profit to pay for other activities. Darnelle spirals out of control however when she finds herself growing attached to Claire and her daughter, Rachel, and when Darnelle's ex-lover tempts Claire to sell her share of the company, this only compounds Darnelle's abandonment issues, stemming from the loss of her parents at an early age. Scared, Darnelle sells the company to her ex, Renault, but regrets the decision the next morning. She returns to Claire and begs for forgiveness, they then hatch a plan to steal the contract by breaking into Reneault's office. At this point, Danielle and Reneault get into a sword fight, but in the end, fall over a ledge and make out. In the end, Claire and Darnelle keep the successful business and Claire also finds love, an ex-coworker who also helped during the B&E.
I have to admit, I am not a Melissa MaCarthy fan, I find that her humor depends a lot on her "oh look at poor old me, I'm overweight in a world that only loves skinny young women" attitude rather than actual comedic talents. Sure, many comedians have used their weight to enhance their comedy or flat out depend on it to make a buck, but they at least have talent to back it up. For me, MaCarthy has always used her looks for pity laughs rather than "we're laughing because it's true." And this movie banked a lot on pity laughs, which is a shame because it could have been a much greater comedy than it was. There were funny moments in the movie, I particularly liked that Darnelle and Reneault rekindle their romance at the end of the movie in a funny moment.
The break in scene at the end I found to reminiscent of her movie "Spy", it felt as if she went to the writers/director and told them "look at all the things I learnt in Spy, let's do that" and they did! Now, don't get me wrong, the rehashing of older material is typical of Hollywood, but it feels in this instance, like many others, that it was done without thought and a sense of appropriateness. Thankfully though, the wardrobe in this movie was one of the highlights of the movie, Darnelle was the one who was typically well-dressed while as Claire was the one who needed help with her clothes, particularly on her first date with Mike(ex-coworker). I also liked the fact that the movie pointed out something that's always bothered me with the Girl Guides: Where does the money go? What are the ladies actually learning? Sure, there are many benefits to the organization, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to change. And for that matter, why is it girls can go into the Boy Scouts, but boys can't go into the Girl Scouts!
For the overall flat comedy and little dazzle, I give this movie 3 brownies out of 7 "your name is Ronald and your from New Jersey".
(All views in this article are my own and the rating is as valuable as unicorn farts).