In honor of Rilo Kiley’s new album Under the Blacklight, released today, here’s a classic clip from 1989’s Troop Beverly HIlls which features a young Jenny Lewis as Shelley Long’s daughter, Hannah. Jenny (quite selflessly) only sings backup here, but you can see it in her eyes that she’s envisioning herself 15 years in the future, wearing vintage dresses at the front of the stage instead of performing an improvised Running Man in a totally wretched Wilderness Girls uniform. This is easily one of my favorite clips ever.
"Cigars… cigarettes… cookies?"
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Troop Beverly Hills is one of my all time favorite movies, and, I beleive, the best slumber party movie ever. i spent many a night in my elementary/jr. high school days in front of the TV with my friends doing “The Freddy” …and i know to this day we can all sing the cookie song without missing a beat.
As a child of the 80’s, I do remember this clip, and I also remember my unbelievable crush on Jenny Lewis (from TBH and from The Wizard, co-starring Kevin Arnold, er, Fred Savage).
If they have peanute butter, chocolate chip and mint cookies why are there only 2 boxes? oh well… Favorite quote: “The parents here are so self involved. S***, I broke a nail!”
I love how Carla Gugino towers over the other girls.
oh, indeed! i’ve tried describing this moment to friends over the past several years, and i’m always met with blank looks. thanks for validating me.
This is one of my favorite movies. I watched it all the time as a kid, and now own the crappy DVD version. I say they release a special edition with all of the girls grown up doing commentary.
I love that all the skinny ladies at the gym just pass by the cookies, but then the heavier ladies go rushing for the table. Isn’t that other red-head “Harriet” from “Small Wonder?”
I love this movie so much! Thanks for forcing me to publicly admit my favorite guilty pleasure movie of all time!!!!
Just make sure you don’t mention this or any of her other movies to Jenny Lewis. She seems to hate talking about her film career, and she basically lost interest in talking to me when I told her that this was one of my favorite childhood movies after a Rilo Kiley concert.
hahahhahaha!!!! i love it when they decided to “rough it” at the beverly hills hotel…
I love Troop Beverly Hills and forced my roommate to watch it (she had never seen it) because she is a HUGE Jenny Lewis fan.. now for the rest of the day I will be singing, It’s cookie time, it’s cookie time… needless to say she hated it.
Right up there in the Top 5 sleepover movies of my childhood, along with Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Adventures in Babysitting, Can’t Buy Me Love, and Dirty Dancing.
It’s kinda creepy how much Jenny Lewis still looks exactly the same as she did in this movie. When I saw her in concert, I just tripped out the whole time.
Thanks so much for that, it made my day! I love that movie so much- The Freddy, Kellie Martin and Tori Spelling when they were young. Amazing.
Last time I did this I got more than a patch for it…
Freaking LOVE this movie. And obvs, Cookie Time is like the best scene ever. Best line: “Patches? We don’t need no stinking patches!”
And also: THANK GOD for a new Rilo Kiley album!!! I’m seeing them twice when they come to NY….can’t WAIT!!!
If you’re going to pull out old Jenny Lewis clips, where’s a scene from “The Wizard”? It’s only the greatest movie about “Super Mario Brothers 3″ starring Fred Savage. Isn’t that worth a mention too?
meredith, thanks for the tori spelling reminder! how and WHY was her adolescent voice so raspy? i could never fully reconcile that scrappy tomboy with a prissy 90210-er. is that what they call “acting”?
I have to admit, I do remember this –my older sister controlled the VCR when we were kids. Betty Thomas is really good in this.
OMG, THANK YOU! I remember being at horrible summer camp and saying that the first thing that I was going to do when I got home was rent Troop Beverly Hills because it was the best movie ever!
I also remember reading years later that Carla Gugino was way older than most of the other girls.
Wonder what happened to the actress that played Claire, the TV star? Everyone else seemed to do stuff before and/or after this movie, but this is the only thing I ever remember seeing her in.
I heart Rilo Kiley!
I love this movie, my sister and I watch it once a year on video. Beverly Hills, What a Thrill, Beverly Hills, What a Thrill!
do the freddie…
LOVE this! After someone sent me “Rabbit Fur Coat”, I kept looking at JL thinking I knew her. I finally IMDBed her and got to the root of it.
She should embrace her inner cheese! We loved her then and now!
troop beverly hills is one of my favorite movies! the cookie scene is the best for “impromptu singing to raise money”! & i love the patches that she gives out for the “accomplishments”
LOVED this movie. Watched it all the time and thought it was the coolest troop ever. So wanted to ditch boy scouts for them. Yes, I am gay. DO we have a clip of the Georgio camping backpacks?
Clare, the young actress, was in Punky Brewster as a kid playing Margot. And yes, that’s Harriet from Small Wonder.
My sisters and I rented Troop Beverly Hills so often that the people at Applause Video told us we weren’t allowed anymore, we were wearing out the tape. One of my friends and I now often bust out this song at work when we’re feeling bored. This completely made my morning!
Along with the movie, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, Shannon Doughtery, this movie Troops Beverly Hills is my favorite campy type movie. LOVE IT. Hard believe some of the little girls in the movie, Kellie Martin formerly of ER. Loved Jenny Lewis in the movie. Wish she had stuck with acting. But this is such a funny movie.
Whoever designed costumes for this movie better have been nominated for an Oscar…remember Shelley Long’s suit with those huge humps at her hips, and her pink fur robe, and Annie Herman’s bee costume. Boi-oi-oing.
We just had a mini party at the office I work at, now I must go do the freddie