Hi everyone!

Welcome back for another week of reviews. This week, we have a wide variety of films for you, truly something for everyone this week, and maybe at least one or two films for nobody. Today, I’ll be reviewing another feel-good family film, this time on Amazon Prime, followed by my review for Guy Ritchie’s latest film, THE GENTLEMEN, tomorrow. On Tuesday, the How I Met Your Friends podcast will be covering CATS, the film everyone loves to hate. On Wednesday, we’ll be dropping Episode #700, and it’ll be a doozy called ZOMBIE WITH A SHOTGUN. On Thursday, One Movie Spouse returns to unleash a rant like no other over BOMBSHELL. Andrew Campbell returns on Friday with his review of the upcoming THE LODGE, recently picked up by Neon for a limited release. And on Saturday, I’ll be reviewing FOR SAMA, another difficult documentary about the situation in Syria.

Over on our Patreon page, we have an interview with Alexander Cooper, writer/director of last week’s SANDOW (Episode #693), where we talk extensively about that film, another feature film he produced called PARALLEL, and even a little bit about FIRST BLOOD. You can listen to the full interview publicly for a limited time at patreon.com/onemoviepunch. While you’re there, sign up at any level to maintain access to our exclusive content, along with becoming eligible for Sponsor Sundays. All contributions go to paying our expenses and will help us to grow with our audience. A promo about Sponsor Sundays will run before the review.

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Here we go!

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Today’s movie is TROOP ZERO (2019), the feel-good family film directed by Katie Ellwood and Amber Templemore-Finlayson, who go by the moniker Bert & Bertie, and written for the screen by Lucy Alibar. The film follows Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace), a misfit girl in 1970’s rural Georgia, who learns about an opportunity to be recorded for NASA’s Golden Record, and sent out with Voyager 1, as long as she is the winning Birdie Scout troop at the upcoming talent show. After being rejected by the local troop, she assembles a ragtag group of kids to form Troop Zero, and take their shot at interstellar glory.

No spoilers.

Feel-good films are important. We probably don’t review enough feel-good films here at One Movie Punch. Part of that is because our critics, on the whole, tend towards dramas and genre films, at least genres that aren’t explicitly feel-good. But a larger part of that is the lack of quality feel-good cinema being produced. I mean, there are plenty of family films being produced, especially for the streaming markets, but very few of the classic feel-good family films make it to the big screen anymore, outside of the animated features from the big name distributors. The question is why?

I think that falls into two categories. First, the old theater to VOD to streaming pipeline is in the middle of another shakeup as the remaining streaming giants are brought online. Even as theaters are offering their own versions of the MoviePass model, more and more features that don’t require a theatrical experience are being moved to streaming services. In some cases, like last week’s TOGO (Episode #690), it might be the case of leaving money on the table, since at least two scenes would have been incredible on the big screen. But perhaps with today’s film, it might have saved money that would otherwise have been lost in distribution. That’s not to say TROOP ZERO is a bad film, just not a great candidate for the theater, but still an excellent feature for the streaming market.

TROOP ZERO feels built off the template of feel-good family features of the 1980s and 1990s, especially the immense family film home markets. It has a predictable, heartwarming story about misfits finding acceptance. It is driven by unique characters who have forgivable flaws, with the exception of any specific villains. And it doesn’t have any high stakes conflicts, at least from an adult perspective, even if the story has plenty of low-stakes conflicts, often played to comedic effect. And, thematically, it deals with both universal pre-teen and adolescent concerns (including trauma, bedwetting, and social inclusion) and specific concerns from the time period (gender roles and expectations).

Casting is a huge highlight of this film. Mckenna Grace, probably the only actress that will ever play both a young Carol Danvers and a young Tonya Harding, continues her impressive filmography with another solid role, playing off her natural charm and extensive experience. Her troop is comprised of equally enjoyable characters, including: her flamboyant, fashion-conscious best friend Joseph (Charlie Shotwell), neighborhood bullies Hell-No Price (Milan Ray) and her muscle Smash (Johanna Colón), and well-meaning evangelical Christian Anne-Claire (Bella Higginbotham) who only has one working eye. They are supported by Christmas’ father Ramsey Flint (Jim Gaffigan), who is apparently a good old boy lawyer with a heart of gold, and his assistant at the law practice, Miss Rayleen (Viola Davis), who eventually helps with the troop activities. Opposite Troop Zero, of course, is the local troop lead by social gossip Miss Massey (Allison Janney) and headed up by ultra-snot Piper Keller (Ashley Brooke). The storytelling remains focused mostly on the children, and their aspirations, but the viewer is also treated to a few scenes involving the adults.

Visually speaking, TROOP ZERO works with the late 1970s color palettes very well, especially for rural Georgia. The natural dark greens, browns, oranges, and yellows of Georgia are complemented well by the period-appropriate costuming. Everything looks great, but also sounds great, with the right mix of film scoring and period-specific tunes, including a lovely number by Troop Zero at the competition.

However, I did have some issues with the story, especially for the time period. I’m not sure about the specific politics of rural Georgia in the late 1970s, but I do know that racism and homophobia were still overt issues, especially in rural areas, and in many cases still are. Clearly, a feel-good family film should stay away from dealing with the worst of these period-specific concerns, but I can’t shake the feeling that many members of Troop Zero would have faced much greater concerns than some light bullying.

Also, I was pretty shocked at how snotty the Birdie Scouts could be towards the misfits. It’s a great juxtaposition, but since One Movie Spouse is a Girl Scout leader, I am obliged to say that most of the behavior by the other troops is reprehensible, and would have resulted in a lot of troop leaders screaming at their scouts. Most of that behavior goes unchallenged, though, for the sake of making a larger point about what’s important in life.

TROOP ZERO is a heartwarming, feel good family film, set in a necessarily sanitized version of late 1970s Georgia. While written off the feel-good family templates of the 1980s and 1990s, the film delivers a solid viewing experience, with a few unexpected fun moments, and frankly, one of the strangest denouements I’ve seen in a while. Feel-good family film fans (say that three times fast) will definitely enjoy this film, especially pre-teens and adolescents. Scout leaders, however, may find last year’s review for LITTLE MONSTERS (Episode #639) a tad more cathartic.

Rotten Tomatoes: 66% 

Metacritic: 58 

One Movie Punch: 7.5/10

TROOP ZERO (2019) is rated PG and is currently playing on Amazon Prime.