All Hail: Cookie Queens and Other Monarchs of Feminine Identity Films.
Written By: Daniel Ramirez
Film & Sports Data Contributor
Cookie Queens, a small but mighty G-rated Documentary from Roadside Attractions follows four Girl Scouts as they strive to be the top-selling “Cookie Queen”. The trailer promises a heart-melting, feel-great odyssey of young female empowerment and achievement. But what makes the film so special is that it doesn’t just deliver what we want from these girls’ stories – it challenges us to look at the not-so-sweet layers of growing up too.
The film doesn’t pull away from moments of real pain: friction in mother-daughter relationships, intense financial pressure, and the choppy but rewarding waters of sisterhood and friendship. Cookie Queens respects its audience enough to not infantilize us, and its inclusion of the more tart ingredients makes the sugary bits even sweeter.
Inspired by Cookie Queens, Sideline Society is calling back some classic films we consider royalty in the realm of feminine power and complexity. So, if these movies were Girl Scout cookies, which one would they be?
All noted streaming availabilities are as of August 26th , recognizing Women’s Equality Day and the 106th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Hidden Figures (2016): Trefoils
Simple and iconic, this timeless shortbread cookie is inspired by the original Girl Scout Cookie recipe. Humbly teaching ingenuity and persistence for over 100 years, this classic treat pairs well with a film about three iconic mathematicians who broke barriers at NASA.
Katherine Johnson was 98 when she finally got to see her story on screen. Afterwards she praised the film and Taraji P. Henson’s portrayal, but expressed confusion as to why anybody would want to make a movie about her life. For an undeniable genius, what a foolish thought!
Available to Stream: HBO Max
Mean Girls (2004): Thin Mints
Cool, Icy, and consistently one of the most popular selections. They’re Cookie Queen royalty. Dominating each season every year, but don’t worry: they’re thin enough that you should still be able to shop at 135, not Sears.
Mean Girls has achieved a similar level of cultural domination, with Tina Fey’s generation-defining creativity taking this IP from a How-To parenting book, to a brand that fetched over $100M each for its original, Broadway musical run, and 2024 remake.
Available to Stream: Paramount+, Peacock, Pluto TV
Moana (2016): Caramel deLites
Also known as Samoas, this cookie combines the whimsy of the tropics with the sweetness of youth. A fitting pairing for a film about discovering that sometimes the greatest adventure is within. Moana is a story about identity, tradition, leadership, and learning when to respect the boundaries of the island – and when to sail beyond them. Maybe you’ll get lucky, too, and the chocolate drizzle will come to life to form your very own Maui tattoo!
Available to Stream: Disney+
Thelma and Louise (1991): Tagalongs
The original ride-or-dies. Well, perhaps (SPOILER ALERT) ride and dies.
Peanut butter and chocolate are the best of friends because their differences are distinct, but the pairing is undeniable. As is the case with these women, whose friendship transforms a disastrous weekend getaway into an unforgettable act of rebellion. Both leads got Oscar nominations for Best Actress (the last of 5 movies to achieve that feat so far), and Callie Khouri won Best Screenplay with this, her very first screenplay.
Available to Stream: Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel
The Help (2011): Lemon-Ups
The original source material was rejected 60 times before eventually being published – then spent 103 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List. The film remains a bitter-sweet entry. Its stories of perseverance and solidarity resonated with audiences, but critics have long argued that its depiction of Jim Crow-era Mississippi sanitizes racial injustice and centralizes white perspectives too heavily.
Emblematic of its theme, both The Help and Lemon-Ups are bright and baked with affirmations of perseverance. Just make sure you don’t piss off Minny if she’s making your batch.
Available to Stream: Peacock
Frida (2002): Toffee-tastic
Much like toffee, Frida was controversial, rich (albeit posthumously), and full of both sweetness and crunch. The producers of the film included both an icon in Salma Hayek and an ogre in Harvey Weinstein. Several reports of sexual harassment and workplace hostility clouded one of Hayek’s most personal productions, but the experience wasn’t totally brittle. Hayek reached out directly to the Kahlo estate to include her authentic work in the film.
In 2025, Frida was honored with official selection by the United States National Film Registry. In the Library of Congress, Frida will be preserved forever… meanwhile Weinstein is rotting in jail.
Available to Stream: Pluto TV
Wild (2014): Adventurefuls
An adventure both on and off screen, Wild was produced by Reese Witherspoon through Pacific Standard, the company she would evolve into Hello Sunshine. On screen, Cheryl Strayed is a woman taking control of her own narrative. She walks thousands of miles to confront the pieces of her life she had lost control of.
Behind the camera, Witherspoon achieves something remarkably similar. From the groundwork laid by pioneers in the 1990’s and 2000’s like Salma Hayek and Charlize Theron, Witherspoon expanded an infrastructure designed to put women’s stories, and women’s voices, in the drivers seat.
Witherspoon eventually built Hello Sunshine into a company valued at $900 million, helping propel an industry-wide explosion of actress-producers that now includes Emma Stone, Kerry Washington, Natalie Portman, Regina King, and Margot Robbie.
Available to Rent/Buy: Prime Video
Barbie (2023): Caramel Chocolate Chip
Perhaps the most classic cookie for a classic female icon.
What were you made for? To break records and dominate the zeitgeist. Barbie made nearly $1.5 billion worldwide and became the highest-grossing film directed by a woman at the time of its release. Greta Gerwig was egregiously snubbed in the Best Director race, but the film still earned 8 Oscar nominations, including one for her screenplay.
Available to Stream: HBO Max
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022): Do-si-Dos
An oatmeal sandwich cookie with peanut butter filling? Sounds more random than an everything bagel. Sharing a name with a circular dance, once you start on the Do-si-Dos, it might never end. Much like your laundry, your taxes, and existential crises.
Overwhelming to anyone allergic to a multiverse concept, this jam-packed film is, at its core, an incredibly endearing story about family, motherhood, and the sacrifices we make for the people we love. Winner of 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and a historic Best Actress win for Michelle Yeoh.
Available to Stream: Hulu
© 2026 Sideline Society Media. All original content, branding, and editorial work are protected. Third-party media is embedded for editorial purposes and remains the property of its respective rights holders.
