Fascinating mystery about missing millions at a family-owned Texas fruitcake company. Doesn't take long to find out 'whodunit' but watching everything unravel will keep you riveted. It's almost unbelievable how it all went down, but humans are strange creatures. The featured employees are people you'd want to know in real life - warm, charming, and ultimately - so forgiving. Watch this - I promise you won't be disappointed. And you'll probably order a fruitcake, too :)
9 Reviews
You know its gonna be a train wreck but you can't look away
mrvault3 February 2022
Really interesting documentary about the famous Collin St Bakery. Have partaken of their fruitcakes many times in the past but I had no idea this had ever happened. The production and story is adequate. The regular people, not being actors, did a good enough job of story telling, but the film lags at times. This was a really sad tale with a tremendous ending. Once I started watching, I couldn't wait to see what happened next. If our country could learn from the sort of people that run, manage and work at Collin Street Bakery, we would be a great united nation again. Highly recommended.
I did not order a fruitcake
Aymaliev19 March 2022
More victims of consumerist culture. That is all you can see in this movie.
People talking about stuff; People collecting stuff; People being outcast, because they do not have enough stuff; Clubs, where you can join if you have enough stuff; People suffering because they think they do not have enough stuff;
After watching this quite long movie, I feel sad for all victims of a system, which is very good at punishing people and tragically poor at helping them.
And wrapping a single fruitcake in three layers of paper, plastic and metal respectively, is definitely not a good business model. It is like stealing... from the environment and, ultimately, from everyone else on this planet.
People talking about stuff; People collecting stuff; People being outcast, because they do not have enough stuff; Clubs, where you can join if you have enough stuff; People suffering because they think they do not have enough stuff;
After watching this quite long movie, I feel sad for all victims of a system, which is very good at punishing people and tragically poor at helping them.
And wrapping a single fruitcake in three layers of paper, plastic and metal respectively, is definitely not a good business model. It is like stealing... from the environment and, ultimately, from everyone else on this planet.
The "Die Hard" of True Crime
sheryl-watkins3 December 2021
"Die Hard" wasn't intended to be a Christmas movie, but many of us would argue to the death that it is.
The producers of "Fruitcake Fraud" didn't make the mistake of pretending there wasn't a Christmas theme. It was filled with Christmas music and fruitcake references.
As a true crime fan, I was vaguely aware of this case, and may even have seen this on another show. But the production values of this documentary were excellent. The cast of characters who brought the crime to life made me feel like I was in this quirky, enchanting corner of Texas. I'd love to have a piece of fruitcake with any of them.
The crime's victims survived, a little poorer but wiser. The perpetrators were so empty that no amount of money could make them whole. I kept hoping the fraudster could meet an angel like "It's a Wonderful Life's" Clarence, or a friend like Al in "Die Hard."
The producers of "Fruitcake Fraud" didn't make the mistake of pretending there wasn't a Christmas theme. It was filled with Christmas music and fruitcake references.
As a true crime fan, I was vaguely aware of this case, and may even have seen this on another show. But the production values of this documentary were excellent. The cast of characters who brought the crime to life made me feel like I was in this quirky, enchanting corner of Texas. I'd love to have a piece of fruitcake with any of them.
The crime's victims survived, a little poorer but wiser. The perpetrators were so empty that no amount of money could make them whole. I kept hoping the fraudster could meet an angel like "It's a Wonderful Life's" Clarence, or a friend like Al in "Die Hard."
Makes me Love Fruitcake Even More!!
sydandtysmom20 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I'm surprisingly a Big Fan of Fruitcake and we have always bought from a different maker. But after watching this I bought one for this company. And it did NOT disappoint. It was Delicious. If you haven't ever had one, give it a try. This show broke my heart and without spoiling everything, I'm glad that the ones that did what they did got what they got, except for Sandy's outcome. I would have rather seen him rot in jail. But definitely worth taking the time to watch.
Cleverly edited waste of time
jake_fantom9 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Fruitcake Fraud is an entirely glib and superficial documentary that illuminates nothing whatsoever, and when all is said and done, amounts to a glossy but overlong advertisement for the Collins Avenue Bakery's pricey fruitcakes. The essence of it is that a bakery employee and his wife managed to embezzle somewhere in the neighborhood of $17 million from the benighted management of the company, but since most of the film is endless shots of fruitcakes rolling down the assembly line interspersed with quickie interviews with employees, mostly played for laughs, we never get to learn anything about the perpetrator outside of the basic facts -- he stole a whole bunch of money and eventually went to the hoosegow. The interviews and the ad nauseam fruitcake factory footage pads the length of this film out from the 30 or so minutes that might have been interesting to a whopping hour and forty minutes of sheer boredom. The Collins Street Bakery does make a good fruitcake, but this glossy exercise in promotional banality is an utter failure as a film. 4 stars for a couple of chuckles here and there.
surprisingly riveting!
yrujhcgv5 December 2021
Fabulously Tragic Yet Entertaining
helenahandbasket-9373428 December 2021
I cannot believe these two people were able to pull such an elaborate scheme right under the noses of all these Corsicanans, yet here we are.
This doc puts me in the mind of McMillions in the way it was produced, edited, etc., and very comical at times.
The only tragedy is Bob- the poor guy who ultimately makes the decisions, but hadn't quite figured out to hire a comptroller or outside auditing company. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but in a company this well known and profitable should have oversight.
Semitric deserves a GIANT raise, and Sandy and Kay deserve to rot in prison the rest of their lives.
Worth noting, Lesa Goins is a horrible human being- what a boorish, brainless, ridiculously narcissistic woman. Some can be due to selective editing, of course, but her personality (or rather, lack thereof) shines through like a penny in the mud. I sincerely hope she's not as in control of the town as she likes to think she is.
This doc puts me in the mind of McMillions in the way it was produced, edited, etc., and very comical at times.
The only tragedy is Bob- the poor guy who ultimately makes the decisions, but hadn't quite figured out to hire a comptroller or outside auditing company. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but in a company this well known and profitable should have oversight.
Semitric deserves a GIANT raise, and Sandy and Kay deserve to rot in prison the rest of their lives.
Worth noting, Lesa Goins is a horrible human being- what a boorish, brainless, ridiculously narcissistic woman. Some can be due to selective editing, of course, but her personality (or rather, lack thereof) shines through like a penny in the mud. I sincerely hope she's not as in control of the town as she likes to think she is.
The most fun roller coaster!
sara_gonzalez8 December 2021
I live right by the second location and I had no idea about all of this- CSB is the best. And now a mystery to boot! Do yourself a favor and order a fruitcake!
TV executives PLEASE give Lesa Goins her own series. I will watch it. I will probably watch this documentary again just fast-forwarding to her parts.
I would also watch a movie about that Quintillion Book Club. Just fascinating small town high society!
TV executives PLEASE give Lesa Goins her own series. I will watch it. I will probably watch this documentary again just fast-forwarding to her parts.
I would also watch a movie about that Quintillion Book Club. Just fascinating small town high society!
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