PLOT: Two aimless young women inadvertently gain telepathic abilities after ingesting an experimental drug, pitting them against dangerous rivals pursuing the same powerful substance.
REVIEW: I used to think that stoner comedies were a lost art, but thanks to films like Pizza Movie and The Wrong Girls, we have proof that there’s still weed left in the bong for a sub-genre that doesn’t get enough love. In Dylan Meyer’s feature directorial debut, Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat play Frankie and Molly, respectively, two struggling stoners who, after developing telepathic abilities, find themselves running from a trio of hapless henchmen determined to use the drug for their own nefarious reasons. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is. Do you know what else it is? A heck of a lot of fun.
Immediately, Frankie and Molly remind me of stoner screen legends like Cheech and Chong, Jesse and Chester, and Harold and Kumar. I felt their bond right away, and despite being skeeved out by their lifestyle, I want the best for them in all things. Stewart and Shawkat have great on-screen chemistry, with both going above and beyond the call of duty to bring sympathy and relatability to their respective characters. Frankie and Molly frustrate me, but when you smoke as much weed as they do, you’d be a spacey, ADHD-addled hot mess too. If you don’t accept them for who they are when they’re unshowered, broke, and desperate, you don’t deserve them when they’re mowing people down with mind bullets.
Somehow, The Wrong Girls is zanier than I expected. The film reminds me of Jesse and Chester’s quirky odyssey in Dude, Where’s My Car, but with a sprinkle of Nima Nourizadeh’s American Ultra (also a Kristen Stewart joint) and Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Oh, and feel free to throw some Big Lebowski in the mix if the film’s Danish henchmen remind you of the nihilists who attack the Dude and his buddies outside the bowling alley.
In addition to Stewart and Shawkat, The Wrong Girls boasts a surprisingly robust cast of A-list actors bringing their sharpened comedic chops to the film, including LaKeith Stanfield as a deadly secret agent, Kate McKinnon as an exasperated scientist, Tony Hale as a well-off douchebag who, during his college days, used to stick his junk inside random dips as a party trick, and more. Geena Davis makes an all-too-brief appearance as the head of a shadowy government program. At the same time, Seth Rogen and Kumail Nanjiani deliver some of the film’s absolute best laughs as, of all things, a pair of telepathic housecats who consume a share of the drug. In true cat fashion, Rogen and Nanjiani’s characters are assholes, but what else would you expect when cats are mostly entitled and aloof creatures that can never be pampered enough?
Together, the extended cast brings additional comedic firepower to Frankie and Molly’s outrageous mission, especially as they attempt to wrap their heads around the duo’s general ineptitude and inability to remain focused for any length of time.
If there’s any aspect of the movie that feels more like a bowl full of seeds than sweet-smelling sticky-icky, it’s the sound design. I don’t know if my screener file was corrupted, or if I was higher than Frankie and Molly combined (I only ate one gummy before watching the film), but the audio mix for The Wrong Girls was all over the place. The soundtrack, while excellent, features bands like Mannequin Pussy (who I enjoy) and Ty Segall, but the tracks often sound muffled or muted. There are also sections of dialogue that don’t integrate well with the surrounding action, making me feel like I missed a joke or two as I strained to absorb the scene. Granted, the audio glitches were few and far between, but it would be remiss of me not to mention them.
If you’re the type of person who marvels at the domino effect of the Dude’s soiled rug leading him on a noir-like investigation while crossing paths with a middle school moron and a porn magnate, you’ll likely get a kick out of The Wrong Girls. It’s wacky and weird enough to stand out among other films in the genre, and it’s even got an aggressively strange dance sequence, a hallmark of quality cinema. Meyer’s film won’t change the stoner-film landscape, but it’s a damn good time if you’re willing to turn your brain off.