Opening Shot: Two women are in a store looking at Barbie dolls. They\u2019re debating which one to get a girl for her birthday. Actually, they\u2019re debating which one to shoplift.<\/p>\n
The Gist:\u00a0 Kim (Zo\u00e9 Marchal) encourages her friend Rosalie (Rebecca Marder) to take both; \u201cyou have room,\u201d she says. Rosalie looks pregnant, but she\u2019s actually wearing a bowl under her shirt. They slip the Barbies and a few other things in, but they eventually get caught; they\u2019re driven back to their apartment complex by Malik (Sami Outalbali), a police detective who\u2019s the brother of their friend Sofia (Naidra Ayadi). They were stealing the Barbies for Sofia\u2019s daughter\u2019s birthday, which ticks Sofia off.<\/p>\n
But the women are all struggling, financially and otherwise. Rosalie, who works at a bank, finds out that, because of the debt that her jailed husband incurred via his work for local drug kingpin \u00c9z\u00e9chiel (Olivier Rosemberg) that was laundered in a failed restaurant, she and her kids will have to live on 30 euros a week. Rosalie, a massage therapist, wants to open a salon. Sofia gets a visit from child protective services, who has told her that they\u2019ll remove her three kids from their home if she doesn\u2019t fix the mold and other issues in her apartment. Rosalie\u2019s youngest cousin Alex (Tya Deslauriers) wants to stop delivering McDonalds.<\/p>\n
At her bank, which constantly runs robbery drills, Rosalie gets an idea: She and Kim should rob the bank when the ATMs are filled each morning, which could net them up to 100,000 euros. Alex definitely wants in. They try to recruit Sofia, but she doesn\u2019t want to put her already tenuous situation at risk. Then, after Sofia gets fired from her job, she reluctantly signs on.<\/p>\n
The plan is to disguise themselves as men, including voice modifiers; they try it out on an unsuspecting bodega clerk and seem to succeed. But they need a getaway car; Kim brings Rosalie to the house of her wealthy client Chlo\u00e9 (Pascale Arbillot). While trying to take one of her cars, Kim finds Chlo\u00e9 passed out from an overdose, an effort to get away from her abusive husband. Chlo\u00e9 ends up being a part of the crew, if for no other reason than to feel something.<\/p>\n
Photo: Laurent Le Crabe\/Netflix<\/p>\n
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Co-created by Rosemberg and Carine Prevot, Cash Queens reminds us of shows like Good Girls<\/a> and Turn Of The Tide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our Take: Cash Queens (Original title: Les Lionnes) sets out a plot we\u2019ve seen a few times \u2014 five women become a gang of bank robbers who seem to flummox both police, the mayor and expert criminals \u2014 but here it\u2019s presented with a sense of humor and a story with just enough layers to make it entertaining.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot hooked into this group\u2019s need to rob banks, and most of it has to do with fulfilling some deficit in their lives. For Rosalie, Sofia and Kim, it\u2019s all about money. For Alex, it\u2019s a desire to use her architecture education and do more than just be a delivery person. For Chlo\u00e9, it\u2019s something to keep her mind off her abusive marriage.<\/p>\n But there are other layers to this story; for one, there\u2019s Sofia\u2019s brother Malik, who investigates the robbery. And then there\u2019s the mayor, Michel Marionnaud (Fran\u00e7ois Damiens), who publicly vows to catch the robbers, but whom is also the abusive husband that Chlo\u00e9 has to endure.<\/p>\n There will be the inevitable episodes where, instead of laying low with the money, some of the women will spend it, attracting attention. More heists will be planned. The investigation will turn towards them at some point. But we enjoyed watching these five women interact with each other, so we\u2019ll go through some of the usual ups and downs associated with a story like this to keep seeing that interaction.<\/p>\n Performance Worth Watching: Zo\u00e9 Marchal is funny as the slightly-unhinged Kim, who isn\u2019t the group\u2019s ringleader but is definitely its biggest motivator and cajoler.<\/p>\n Sex And Skin: Kim visits her boyfriend in prison for a conjugal visit, but she just wants to know where \u00c9z\u00e9chiel stashes his weapons.<\/p>\n Parting Shot: One of Rosalie\u2019s kids brings a gun to class to illustrate where her mom works.<\/p>\n Sleeper Star: We\u2019re curious to see where Chlo\u00e9, played by Pascale Arbillot, fits into this group, given the fact that she doesn\u2019t need the money they\u2019re stealing.<\/p>\n Most Pilot-y Line: As they\u2019re robbing the bank, we get flashes behind the goggles the women are wearing. Is it to identify them? We\u2019re not sure.<\/p>\n Our Call: STREAM IT. Cash Queens is a dramedy thriller that certainly leans on the funny side of its story, with a fun chemistry among the five women who get together to form an unlikely but very effective gang of bank robbers.<\/p>\n Photo: Laurent Le Crabe\/Netflix<\/p>\n