The Wrong Girls Review: Great Minds Think Alike

In The Wrong Girls, Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat exhale a brilliant new life into the dormant stoner comedy genre.

Dylan Meyer’s latest feature, The Wrong Girls, manages to not only push the boundaries of the genre’s storytelling formula, but dig deeper to create an insightful look at the codependent friendships we make in our early adulthood. 

The Wrong Girls follows two codependent best friends, Frankie (Kristen Stewart, of Sacramento) and Molly (Alia Shawkat, of Atropia), who have been roommates for several years. While the girls have jobs – Molly works as a delivery driver, and Frankie makes spreadsheets for a living – they find themselves stuck feeling unfulfilled. Molly would rather pursue her dream of becoming a chef, developing the unique recipes she concocts under the influence of marijuana, while Frankie, on the other hand, is more aimless in her career pursuits after failing out of Stanford years prior.

When the girls find themselves extremely late on this month’s rent, they decide they are in need of some cash ASAP. Molly promises to handle the situation by completing a spreadsheet for a client while Frankie decides to go out the same night in order to drown her sorrows from her disastrous love life at a warehouse party. Due to a case of mistaken identity, Frankie wakes up the next morning with a mysterious briefcase she doesn’t quite remember acquiring. 

As it turns out, the briefcase is full of a brand new psychedelic drug that, when ingested, allows people who have taken the drug to communicate telepathically. After testing the drug, the two women decide to sell it in order to help with their month’s rent payment. Unbeknownst to them, these drugs are highly sought after and this mix-up in recipients is about to get them into a drug-fueled game of cat and mouse that will not only make them question their life paths, but also test their bond as best friends. 

What makes The Wrong Girls so compelling beyond its psychedelic imagery and laugh-out-loud humor is its unique look at friendship through the lens of a stoner comedy film. Other films of the same genre, primarily centered around male relationships, typically reach a climax where it’s revealed that the two male protagonists are only friends out of convenience or because they’ve been friends for so long, they feel they need to honor their relationship by putting in the bare minimum effort to keep it intact while really they have grown resentful of one another. 

While Frankie and Molly get angry with each other, as to be expected in the third act of most stoner comedy films, it’s not hatred that fuels their rift but actually their immense love for one another. The two women want what’s best for their friend, but realize the thing that is holding one another back is the codependent relationship they are actively contributing to.

It’s in this that the telepathic component of the film really underscores its ambition to cultivate the limitless bounds of the genre in order to explore the depths of our most cherished friendships. Beyond the impressive feats of the film’s quick wit and hypnotic cinematography, thanks to director of photography Todd Banhazl’s genius, it’s writer and director Dylan Meyer’s script that allows The Wrong Girls to stand out and reinvent the ways in which friendship is portrayed in this genre of film. 

Simply put, The Wrong Girls is exactly what the stoner comedy genre has needed for years. Two likeable and compelling main characters with a genuine friendship that is fun to watch. The film does not take itself too seriously, but strangely enough that’s what gives it the room to make a truly touching and impactful look at the relationships that feel like they defy the bounds of best friendships into a new category of connection entirely. 

The Wrong Girls is now available to watch in US and Canadian theaters.