SnoopyStyle The Wilderness Girls of America is considering closing the Beverly Hills chapter with only 8 active members. Rich wife Phyllis (Shelley Long) is the new troop leader for the sake of her daughter Hannah (Jenny Lewis) and furthest from a wilderness girl. She is about to divorce husband Freddy Nefler (Craig T. Nelson). The girls are from different backgrounds. Phyllis runs afoul of militaristic troop leader Velda Plendor (Betty Thomas) who sends in assistant Annie Herman (Mary Gross) to infiltrate them.The premise is silly but it could still work as a kids movie. In fact, that's where it falters. It concentrates too much on Shelley Long when it should spend the time with the girls. The best moment is making a birthday party for one of the girls. The movie needs more of those moments and time together for the girls. This really needed to be a true kids movie but the studio made it a Shelley Long vehicle. There are some fascinating stars when they were small girls. Tori Spelling is one of the villains and I'm surprised to see a young Carla Gugino. The story is pretty standard in this family fare. Some of it is enjoyable but it could have been much better.

Amy Adler In Beverly Hills, Phyllis (Shelley Long) has a blackbelt in shopping and a gloriously posh mansion. Unfortunately, her estranged husband, Freddy (Craig T. Nelson), who is a wealthy muffler franchise owner, has moved into the guest house in the backyard and has filed for divorce. When pressed, he says its because Phyllis spends to much time and money on frivolous things. Yet, long ago, Phyllis worked to support her husband through law school and was his every desire. So, is there still a spark? Its not certain. Also at this moment, their daughter Hannah's Wilderness Girls troop needs a leader and Phyllis volunteers. Right away, she manages to offend one of the Girls district commanders, Velda (Betty Thomas), who gets upset when Phyllis turns a rained-on campout into a slumber party at a swanky hotel. More trouble arrives when Phyllis invents new "patches" for her girls to earn, like jewelry appraisal and "sixties dancing". But, the troop is a quick study. In the annual cookie sales, Phyllis and the girls sell more than 3,000 boxes, due to creative techniques. Velda's daughter's troop finishes second, much to the leader's chagrin. Therefore, at the upcoming wilderness survival competition, out in the woods, Velda vows revenge on Troop BH. Can she carry her bad-hearted plans to fruition? This film still leaves em laughing, even though it will never win any awards. Long has one of her best movie roles ever as the shopaholic, trend-setting housewife from 90210 while Nelson, Thomas, Mary Gross and all of the other cast members do nice work, too. Look for Carla Gugino and Kellie Martin as two of the troop's girls! Also wonderful is the tongue-in-cheek script which pokes fun at the lifestyles of the rich and famous while showing their glories at the same time. Naturally, the sets, costumes, and photography are quite lovely. The ever-moving, comic direction completes this fun little flick. Are you having a bad day? Snag this little movie and you will giggle away the blues.

policy134 There are really not any words that can properly describe Troop Beverly Hills, except maybe "average", "not great" or perhaps to be more offensive "bomb". Bomb is a little unfair because the movie is really no worse than a lot of mainstream 80's movies that somehow got more popular than this one.I first saw this when it was just put out on video in Denmark and at the same time the show "Cheers" was still on the air both here and of course in the U.S. We also became aware of Shelley Long's reputation here in DK because of the increasing popularity of tabloid magazines and TV. Long was embarrassed about being typed as a mere TV actress but to leave a hit show like Cheers to do this - well, the whole event speaks for itself.But just for laughs, let's try to describe the actual movie. Long is actually pretty good but it's a shame that what she is doing was basically the same thing done by Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, (there even was a time when I couldn't remember if they were actually one person - don't let that get out - oh, crap it's out now) that means playing a spoiled snob who transforms herself into a caring person. However, Hawn's turn was superior because of one thing, her Benjamin character was really quite unsympathetic in the beginning of "Benjamin". In Troop Beverly Hills we get a lengthy explanation of how Long got the way she is by having her and the husband (played by Craig T. Nelson) argue about it. That was a fatal mistake because Long's character is made out to be more of a victim than simply a snob right from the beginning and it makes her transformation so much more contrived for a lack of a better word. Sorry to get so upset by this. I know you are not supposed to take this so serious but it just annoys me.Like many comediennes, Long also longs (sorry again) to be taken seriously and therefore there are many sappy scenes between her and her daughter and also other characters that are supposed to be high drama but really just makes you wanna click the off-switch. In the end there isn't really much to either upset you or to get you laughing in this movie. Betty Thomas of Hill Street Blues was born to play the role of the head Wilderness Girl but she is not given a lot to work with. Her role is purely one-dimensional. Mary Gross is also here but she plays the ditz once more and therefore it's not really her day in the sun either.To say that this is the best film ever gross exaggeration and Long's film career pretty much stagnated until the name "Brady" creeped up. Thank god that she didn't try to make another buddy movie with Bette Midler because that was ten times more creepy than seeing this.

dkrob I thoroughly enjoyed this film and to see Shelley Long sing and dance is a real bonus. The young ones who played troop members were great. The roadside disco was excellent The little bits of morality were very subtly and nicely done. The music and tunes were soo good, The only complaint that I have is we didnt see more of Shelley singing and dancing and the music should have been on longer. I cannot remember a film where everybody seemed to enjoy themselves so much. The background shots of Beverley Hills were soo good and the crowd watching the roadside discos seemed to be enjoying the disco as were the young troop members. The comments on the quality of the recently released DVD were not good but I found no problem with it at all.