On paper, Dylan Meyer’s The Wrong Girls should fire on all cylinders for me. It’s got two formidable leads in broke roommates/besties Frankie (Kristen Stewart) and Molly (Alia Shawkat), and it’s all about them getting high in as many ways possible, concocting crazy meals for the munchies, and doing dumb shit together — all the beats of a classic stoner comedy. Plus, it’s shot and set in the non-mainstream, dynamic haze of Los Angeles, where California weed is king, and everybody wants a puff. It’s also a 24-hour film, similar to an excellent stoner film predecessor in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993). 

The Wrong Girls opens with an underwater sequence of an effervescent, dream-like nature documentary (à la Discovery Channel), spotlighting the elusive and mysterious giant squid. The deep-sea expert (Cate Blanchett) narrates this vibrant, gorgeous pink squid as it moves through the darkness of the sea. Not only are you lost in this oceanographic moment, but it feels so textured, like you want to reach out and touch the cephalopod. Frankie and Molly, as stoners do, watch in pure awe and admiration. 

Their house, “Casa Chill Zone,” is a testament to their years of friendship; it’s littered with Christmas cards of themselves, cat iconography, a life-size cutout of Celine Dion, and their Bongatron. The space is strikingly colorful and lived-in — it sets the color palette for the film’s boldness. The chemistry between them is palpable, almost to the point where I thought they were dating — spoiler alert, they are not. 

Molly and Frankie are two weeks late on their rent, working unfulfilling jobs just to continue existing. Molly does menial spreadsheet filling while wanting to be a serious weed chef, and Frankie makes “Kwik Things” deliveries after failing out of Stanford’s prestigious engineering program. Meyer hits something resonant here: this is many people’s reality, and there’s no real exit out of the capitalist hellscape. Meyer’s representation and writing felt the strongest for me – it felt like she had lived a similar story, and according to IndieWire, she and producer Maggie McLean had. 

Where The Wrong Girls gets its footing is in its titular canon event: an instance of mistaken identity leads the best friends down a psychedelic journey with a colorful, experimental drug. The drug gives them powerful telepathy and weed-activated telekinesis — and brings them closer than they were before (if that was even possible). I’ve never tripped before, but the hallucinatory sequence Frankie and Molly experience makes me never want to. Every sound is heightened, they can’t control their bodies, they lose bouts of memory, and they can talk to their cats. It’s exactly what a bad trip looks like. Meyer captures that essence well, and it’s pretty funny. 

Soon after, the mistaken identity issue comes to a head when contract mercenary Not Metal Head Dave (LaKeith Stanfield) realizes that Frankie got the drugs instead of Frances (played by Kristen Stewart as well), and the girls are in severe danger. Frankie and Molly have no idea what’s going on, like usual, and they look to get rid of the psychedelic nightmare drugs. 

Enter Martin Flynn (Tony Hale), a rich douchebag (whom Frankie met during a delivery) who hosts an uppity Stanford Alumni event. When Frankie and Molly crash the party, the film clamps down and becomes much funnier. They show up wearing trash bags fitted into dresses, and call it high fashion. Meyer’s comedic bits, and the editing and direction, hit the highest for me in this sequence, as Frankie and Molly talk to these high-brow, posh Stanford alums.

NEON

Frankie has a vulnerable moment here; her history with Stanford haunts her, and she refuses to talk about it. Eventually, it catalyzes into a slight rift between her and Molly. Molly finds a potential buyer in a weird suited businessman, and it seems like everything is fine. Except that buyer was part of the omnipotent Mrs. Kock’s (lol) men, and the guy steals the drugs and wants to kidnap the girls for experimentation. After this point, the film really flips into third gear, becoming more action-centered and fast-paced, and that’s where it remains till its final crescendo. 

Like any film about two best friends, Frankie and Molly reach a point of catharsis where they finally confront each other about the things they never said — and how they’re gonna stop living together. It’s the point in the film where things get the most tangible, and you feel pain over their relationship, especially because there’s reality outside of the chaos of the trip. There’s resentment and regret. You wonder what will happen to them, but because of the nature of the stoner comedy and happy endings, we know that everything will be okay in the end. Frankie and Molly escape from the pristinely suited Danish henchmen using the power of weed, and one really awesome giant squid. 

The Wrong Girls boasts the presence of comedic icons like Seth Rogen (Dio, the cat), Kumail Nanjiani (GG, the cat), and Kate McKinnon as Dr. Olsen in its ensemble. Zack Fox plays a kind, put-together boyfriend to Molly, which was a nice surprise. I’m used to his comedic beats from his Abbott Elementary character, Tariq. There’s a line delivery from McKinnon in this film that had my theater cackling so hard. There is also a short scene with Geena Davis, which was great — I wish the film had more of her. 

At its core, The Wrong Girls is a film that works for a very specific audience, as Meyer noted in an IndieWire feature. The film is a love letter to female friendship, finding yourself, and the culture of weed in SoCal. It’s a film that will reach cult status, and I think it’s already getting a bit of that. I loved a particularly honest representation of the loss of “Souper Starz Buffet” (Meyer’s homage to iconic LA chain “Souplantation”) that was like home for Frankie and Molly. 

Even if it largely didn’t work for me (mostly because I am not the target audience), I can’t say I didn’t enjoy a few moments. Meyer and McLean’s creativity and hard years of work to get this film made are worth celebrating, especially as it sets the tone for future female stoner comedies. Who knows? There might even be The Wrong Girls 2 coming our way in a few years. 

Review Courtesy of Mariana Fabian

Feature Image Credit to NEON