Title: Troop Zero
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Bert & Bertie
Starring: Mckenna Grace, Viola Davis, Allison Janney
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

What It Is: Christmas Flint (Grace) is a bit of a star-gazing girl. After the death of her mother her father, the city attorney Ramsey (Jim Gaffigan) has not won a single case. Meanwhile, Christmas is picked on by a troop Birdie Scouts. This troop is led by Miss Massey (Janney) and are some of the more well off girls in this small Georgia town. When the Birdie scouts are told that the winning troop at their yearly jamboree will get recorded on NASA’s Golden Record Christmas will do what she must get her voice to the extra-terrestrials.

What We Think: This is a film that settles into itself around the twenty-minute mark. When it does get into its groove what we get is a family film that when it hits is going to be a big-time money maker. This is one of the only films I saw at Sundance where the whole family can go. Viola Davis is good but it’s McKenna Grace who, once again, steals the show. Much in the same way she did in Gifted. Alison Janney challenges some of her past characters to make Miss Massey an unlikable woman, who at her core is a good person. Narratively it traverses familiar territory. Bert and Bertie don’t explore things too much outside the surface attributes of their characters. They develop them…slightly but it isn’t enough.

Our Grade: C+, So far all the things it does well it is all a bit too safe. It’s an interesting choice for a closing night film for a festival whose motto was “Risk Independence”. This feels like a film that 1994 would’ve adored but instead, 2019 will see it make no money in the theater and clean up on home release and video on demand. I can recommend the film it is quite good just doesn’t do anything we haven’t really seen before. Kudos to them for the wonderful usage of David Bowie tracks…that’s probably where the budget went.