When I saw the trailer for a drug-induced romp starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat, I was pretty set on having to watch it. If you take a brief look at the IMDb page, not only is there a shockingly stacked cast, but characters have names like “Not Metal Head Dave,” and I don’t know about you, but that is exactly the kind of humour I am looking for when I want to turn my brain off, relax and laugh a little.
The premise of The Wrong Girls is simple: a series of bad events, including an unexplainable doppelganger (also Kristen Stewart), lead Frankie (Stewart) and Molly (Shawkat) to drink vials of what they believe are psychedelics. There are definitely some unexpected side effects, which propel a good portion of the completely insane plot, but I won’t spoil the ridiculousness for you here. It’s a lot more fun to learn it all in real-time.
I think some people are going to hate on The Wrong Girls because it’s a stoner adventure with two female leads, written by a woman (Dylan Meyer), and because it features Stewart in general. However, if you could get behind something like Pineapple Express, Jay and Silent Bob or Half Baked (which critics don’t seem to appreciate), there is no reason that The Wrong Girls can’t make your Friday night guilty pleasure list. This is not Stewart and Shawkat’s first adventure together either; they were both in 2010’s The Runaways.
I will be honest, I wasn’t sure about The Wrong Girls at first. The stupid humour gave me reason to worry. However, Stewart and Shawkat are hilarious together, and though it is absolutely absurd, that is exactly what they were going for. Buried under that insanity is a story about two girls who really need each other, and it’s nice to have something meaningful in there to bring a little depth to the stoner journey. The Wrong Girls blends a dash of heart into the stoner genre, but make no mistake: this is a comedy first.
“The Wrong Girls is a lot of very, very stupid fun, packed with very confusing cameos…”
For example, the girls’ cats are voiced by Seth Rogan and Kumail Nanjiani. One plays a “fraidy cat,” if you will, and another is a self-serving companion—so a cat in general—I’ll leave it to you to find out who is who. Again, why they have voices should remain a surprise; it’s all part of the journey! The Wrong Girls also expertly uses Celine Dion throughout the film, with a pretty stellar dance sequence later on, so how can you go wrong with that?
Director/writer Dylan Meyer and cinematographer Todd Banhazl purposely aimed for a raw, gritty look, which works perfectly with the tone of the film. The Wrong Girls has a dated, yellow tinge to much of the movie, though a section in a more upscale area drops this in exchange for a bright and shiny existence. The yellow haze—not purple—is something we have seen before in these kinds of movies, but it works.
Of course, the script in here is hard to take seriously. I can imagine a room of people—also stoned—thinking every joke would be hilarious, and that is part of the charm. It is not something that should be taken seriously, and that is the point. From Kate McKinnon’s take on a foreign scientist wildly frustrated with the girls to three pristine Danish bad guys to glittery sea creatures (I am waiting for the Twilight sparkle jokes), nothing really belongs, yet somehow everything fits. The Wrong Girls even makes some excellent callbacks which actually affect the story, so kudos to more than just laughs.
I am thrilled to have a stoner flick for the girlies. This movie paints a picture that women can be complete slackers, behind on rent and focused on their next adventure, and if that isn’t equality, I don’t know what is! The Wrong Girls is a lot of very, very stupid fun, packed with very confusing cameos, so if that is your thing, you’re all set to have a great time.
