As Phyllis, a Beverly Hills housewife, is in the middle of a divorce, she tries to find focus in her life by taking over her daughter Hannah's Wilderness Girl troop. Among the girls are Tiffany, (who her father has to bribe to attend meetings, Emily (the daughter of an out of work actor, whose financial difficulties hinders her wanting to participate in certain activities), the neurotic Tessa (whose parents divorce has forced her into therapy twice a week), the hostile Chica (whose parents are too busy with their own lives to even remember her birthday), and Claire (the child star who see the wilderness girls as her chance to lead a "normal" life). Phyllis then begins to take the girls camping at a Beverly Hills hotel and earn patches relating to material things. The district leader, Velda, feels the troop should be disbanded. However, the head of the Wilderness girls organization believes that as long as Phyllis has taken an active interest in the girls, that is the only thing that's...
Written by
Theresa
Plot Synopsis:
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At a Southern California Wilderness Girls of America board meeting, the militaristic Velda Plendor (Betty Thomas) votes to disband the Beverly Hills chapter, Troop 332, since the scouts consistently under-perform. However, the organization's leader, Frances Temple (Audra Lindley), allows troop Beverly Hills one last chance with its new leader, Phyllis Nefler (Shelley Long).

Unknown to the board, Phyllis is a shallow, self-indulgent, compulsive shopper with expensive tastes, and is determined to bankrupt her husband, Fred (Craig T. Nelson), before their pending divorce. Although the couple's adolescent daughter, Hannah (Jenny Lewis), is delighted that Phyllis is her new Wilderness Girls troop leader, Fred doubts that his wife, who once scrimped and saved to start his now-successful car muffler business, can prioritize camping over shopping. Despite their antagonism, Phyllis secretly longs for Fred, who has taken up residence in the guesthouse on the property.

Sometime later, Phyllis attends a training session lead by Velda Plendor. Dressed in a custom-made designer uniform and heedless of the Wilderness Girls's staunch codes of humility, Phyllis provokes Velda's crusade to get rid of troop Beverly Hills.

The next day, Phyllis meets each of the new wealthy and spoiled Beverly Hills girls of her new group who include Hannah, Claire Sprantz (Ami Foster), Chica Barnfell (Carla Gugino), Tessa DiBlasio (Heather Hopper), Emily Coleman (Kelli Martin), Tiffany Honigman (Emily Schulman), the sole African-American girl Jasmine Shakar (Tasha Scott), the daughter of a Southeast Asian dictator Lily Marcigan (Aquilina Soriano), and finally Hannah Nefler (Jenny Lewis). Phyllis takes the girls to a campsite beneath the Hollywood sign, chauffeured in limousines. During a rainstorm, Phyllis relocates the girls to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where they share ghost stories around the fireplace.

The next morning, Velda and her long-suffering sidekick, Annie Herman (Mary Gross), arrive at the hotel to berate Phyllis, claiming she has debased their wholesome organization. Although Velma fires Phyllis, the indomitable Beverly Hills troop leader later attends the Annual Wilderness Craft Day convention and leads her girls in a fashion show, but they are laughed offstage. Meanwhile, Velda secretly orders Anne to spy on troop Beverly Hills with a hidden camera, posing as an assistant leader.

At the next troop meeting, Hannah and the other girls confess their discontent. In response, Phyllis promises to train the girls how to survive the "wilderness" of Beverly Hills and to earn Wilderness Girls patches based on their accomplishments. Responding to the "Grooming," "Create a Patch," "Dance," and "Community Service" mandates of the Wilderness Girls manual, Phyllis treats the young ladies to spa treatments, teaches them to appraise diamonds, leads them in dance moves, arranges cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training with a handsome police officer, and lets them entertain residents at a retirement home.

Sometime later, Phyllis brings the troop to her divorce hearing to expose them to the U.S. legal system, and is devastated to learn that Fred is considering remarriage. The next day, Phyllis announces that the girls broke a record by earning 36 patches in three weeks, and plans a celebration aboard a dockside yacht. There, Hannah is decorated with her special "Sushi Appreciation" patch with parents Phyllis and Fred standing proudly on either side, but when they bend to kiss their daughter, Hannah ducks, hoping the soon-to-be divorcees will kiss each other. In the melee, Fred's fiancee, Vicki Sprantz (Stephanie Beacham), falls off the yacht.

Sometime later, Velda proudly exhibits a slideshow of Annie's secret photographs to the organization's leader, Frances Temple, hoping to have troop Beverly Hills disbanded for good, while she lies and manipulates each event happening in each photo in a negative away. However, Frances questions Velda's clandestine slides, and decides to maintain Phyllis' leadership. In response, Velda orders Annie to move into the Nefler estate to uncover incriminating evidence, but Annie only witnesses Phyllis' kindness. Finally having had enough of Velda's abrasiveness, Annie decides to quit spying on Phyllis for Velda and throws away her mini camera.

Sometime later, Velda announces that the two troops that sell over 1,000 boxes of cookies will compete at the Wilderness' Girls Annual Jamboree to be that year's champions. Although the red-feathered Culver City troop plots to take over the Beverly Hills territory, Phyllis arranges a dance performance and fashion show that results in the top-selling of 4,732 boxes.

In celebration, Phyllis invites Velda to a black tie gala. When Fred shows up unexpectedly, he compliments his wife for becoming troop leader of the year, and notices she has reverted to the virtuous girl he fell in love with. As Fred announces that his engagement to Vicki has ended, Phyllis suspects he wants to renew their vows, but instead he asks for joint custody of Hannah, and the distressed Phyllis falls into the pool.

Later, Velda berates Phyllis and orders her to take the Wilderness Jamboree seriously. Depressed at the loss of her husband, Phyllis drowns her sorrows in Evian bottled water and announces her resignation from troop Beverly Hills. However, the girls insist she has been a positive role model, and beg her to stay. Just then, Fred arrives with Hannah, and encourages Phyllis to lead the girls to victory at the jamboree.

Sometime later, troop Beverly Hills arrives at the jamboree campsite in convertible Rolls Royces, ready to outperform the Culver City girls. As the teams race off on their first challenge, Velda fires Annie, who has defected and become Phyllis' confidante, and the girls of troop Beverly Hills are left to their own devices. Meanwhile, the Culver City red-feathers sabotage troop Beverly Hills and Phyllis loses her walkie-talkie after running away from a snake. Although it appears the red-feathers will win, troop Beverly Hills comes in first, sprinting away from a skunk.

The next day, Velda takes over as the red-feathers' leader and secretly severs the cords of a rope bridge. When Phyllis finds the collapsed bridge, she cries that the game is lost, but Hannah points out a nearby fallen tree that also crosses the ravine. Phyllis totters across the trunk so she can refasten the rope bridge. However, she slips and Hannah hurries to help her mother. Although the girl's foot gets stuck, Phyllis dislodges her and they successfully cross the gorge.

Watching through binoculars, Velda realizes troop Beverly Hills has repaired the bridge and decides to lead her group on a dangerous short cut. Eager to get to the finish line, Velda trips and breaks her ankle, but the Culver City girls, including Velda's own daughter, leave their leader behind and march toward the finish line. Meanwhile, troop Beverly Hills stops to help Velda, but the cantankerous woman refuses to advise them of a shortcut, despite her injury, because she is intent on the red-feathers' victory. Using their designer backpacks to create a makeshift stretcher, the girls drag Velda to the finish line. Although Culver City arrives first, they are disqualified because they are devoid of their leader. Just then, troop Beverly Hills crosses the finish line and are awarded the championship trophy. As Velda is fired from the organization, the parents celebrate their daughters' victory. Fred kisses Phyllis, declares his love, and proposes remarriage.

In the final scene, Velda is seen working as a cashier and announcer at K-Mart.

In order to improve her chances of getting her part, Carla Gugino lied about her age, claiming to be 14 when she was actually 16. After 3 weeks into the shoot she divulged her real age to the director, by which time it was already too late to replace her.
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Carla Gugino's film debut.
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Shelley Morrison, who plays Rosa, the maid, would go on to play Rosario, the maid for 8 seasons on _Will & Grace (1998)_.
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John Kricfalusi, who created Ren and Stimpy, worked on the animation intro, and specifically drew the Shelley Long character.
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When Velda and Annie go into the Beverly Hills Hotel, two joggers pass by. They are Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.
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Karina Bong's (Lily's mother) character was modeled after Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines. There are 'in-jokes' made about Karina's husband being a dictator and how Karina has thousands of pairs of shoes (as Imelda did). Also, the couple have a son, Ferdinand Jr., who is fondly called Bong Bong by the people.
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Tori Spelling's film debut.
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The studios that produced the film were actually producing another project while filming the low budget comedy. As the camera rolled for Shelley Long on the set of the film, a second camera crew was filming the zero-budget corporate video for the 2nd Asst. Directors Program that is offered in Hollywood. The tape included interviews of a number of 2nd AD's in the industry alongside clips of the crew working on the set of Troop Beverly Hills. In one scene during the end of the movie, one of the Wilderness Girls falls and hurts her leg. It was up to one of the Asst. 2nd Directors to pick up the girl and bring her to a medic. This footage was filmed on video for the corporate tape. In the end, the studios saw this as an opportunity to save money to promote the AD program by shooting footage of the production of Troop Beverly Hills. Shot over 15 years ago, the corporate tape is still used today for students wanting to enter the program in 2004.
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During the court scene, Phyllis explains that her new ensemble is a 'Van Runkle'. This is a play on the fact that the costume designer for the movie is Theadora Van Runkle.
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This was Betty Thomas' last role in a full-length feature film. She would later direct.
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Betty Thomas (Velda Plendor) would go on to direct The Brady Bunch (1995) which starred Shelley Long (Phyllis Nefler) six years later.
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When Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon are seen jogging, Annette is singing the lyrics to her 1959 hit single 'Tall Paul' ("Chalk on the sidewalk...writing on the wall...").
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When Velda visited the Beverly Hills troop at the hotel and asked Phillis "Is this what you call roughing it?" Phillis replies "One bathroom for nine people? Yes!" (Shelley Long), who played Phillis, later played Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) (a film directed by (Betty Thomas)where there are nine people in a house with one bathroom.
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During the girls' campout at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Velda bursts in and kicks out the room service boy. On his way out the door, he shouts "Aliento de perro!" - Spanish for, "dog breath."
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The actress who played "Chica" turned 16 during the production, so she was much older and quite a bit taller than the other girls. You can often see tricks being employed to mask the height difference. She's in the back row and slouching during the dance numbers. In the scene where they're sitting on the floor in the living room for their troop meeting, the girls around her are sitting up on pillows.
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This is one of three films released in 1989 to feature an animated title sequence. The other two are "Christmas Vacation" and "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids".
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The "Current Affairs" gossip Phyllis is sharing with Vicki is about Tiffany's father having an affair.
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Kellie Martin and Tori Spelling would appear in another movie together as leads five years later in Death of a Cheerleader (1994).
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Claire and Hannah's parents are all connected. Vicki and Phyllis are best friends while her father is Freddy's lawyer
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Carla Gugino and Heather Hopper both appeared in Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Tori Spelling would later appear in the spin off, Saved By the Bell.
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Velda wears a Purple Heart medal through much of the movie. The Purple Heart is a medal awarded to a member of the United States military who has been wounded or killed in battle.
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Animator John Kricfalusi who at the time was working as a cartoonist for Hanna Barbera and Filmation, created the animated opening titles. A year after the film's release, his original cartoon series, The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991) made it's cable television debut and instantly became a hit among audiences.
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Kellie Martin would later star in an episode of SeaQuest D.S.V. (1993), of which Stephanie Beacham played the main character of Dr. Kristin Wesphalen. The episode is called Brothers and Sosters (s1 ep.5)
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Annie tells Phyllis that rattlesnakes hate water, but this is incorrect. Rattlesnakes are excellent swimmers, although they are not known to hunt for prey in the water.
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At the patch ceremony Chica walks up to Phylis wearing patches. The Patches were not handed out until the next shot.
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When Lilly arrives for the first meeting and Phyllis runs over to greet her parents, the camera is reflected in the limo's window when the Dictator rolls it up.
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At the end of the Wilderness Jamboree, the Beverly Hills troop crosses the finish line dragging an injured Velda on a makeshift stretcher. Velda is supposed to have a broken ankle, yet she gets up and walks quickly to her jeep with perfect ease, which would indicate her ankle is perfectly fine.
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During the 'Do the Freddie' dance at the senior citizens home, when the lady's wheelchair started rolling down the hill, you could see a string attached to the front of the wheelchair.
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