The new film, The Wrong Girls aims to bring the classic stoner comedy to a new generation. Think Cheech & Chong for lesbians, let’s say. It stars Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat as Frankie and Molly, respectively, two layabout cannabis devotees who are dangerously behind on rent. Molly is an aspiring chef with—to Frankie’s chagrin—a loving boyfriend who wants her to move in with him. By contrast, Frankie is a Harvard engineering dropout who is always after the wrong guy.
When the film starts, the current guy is dating a woman who looks exactly like Frankie (also played by Stewart). When Frankie goes alone to a Mannequin Pussy concert to confront him (Molly has to stay home to do a “spreadsheet” that will allegedly get them the rent money the need), a mysterious guy (Lakeith Stanfield) who mistakes Frankie for her more successful doppelgänger leaves her in possession of a suitcase full of glowing pink vials. From there, Frankie and Molly get into one misadventure after another as multiple parties try to steal the case back.
Like so many stoner comedies before it, The Wrong Girls meanders. Its structure is episodic as it follows Molly and Frankie around Los Angeles—sometimes to hilarious effect. In one of the film’s best scenes, Frankie and Molly go to their favorite restaurant to escape their woes, a Souplantation-like establishment where Molly mixes the offerings into her own creations for both girls to enjoy. To their horror, they discover that the restaurant will shut down soon and they react as if they’ve learned that a relative has a terminal illness. Barely holding back tears, they hurl recriminations at the hostess and her dead-eyed stare is a brilliant contrast to their hysterics.
That scene works largely due to Stewart and Shawkat’s committed performances, their chemistry allowing them to feed off each other. However, not every scene is as well-calibrated and the comedy fails more often than it succeeds.
One of the most surprising flops comes in the scene that introduces Kate McKinnon’s character. A proven comedic talent with a proven screen rapport with Stewart thanks to SNL, her heavily-accented, stuck-up scientist character feels too familiar. She plays the part with her usual gusto and Stewart, Shawkat and Stanfield all seem to be open to play, but none of the jokes land and the scene feels endless.
That, unfortunately, proves to be The Wrong Girls‘ fatal flaw: the jokes just aren’t there. It’s tough to determine exactly why the comedy doesn’t work. On one hand, it feels like maybe writer-director Dylan Meyer relied too much on the cast to improv when they weren’t quite warmed up yet. When Molly and Frankie inevitably sample the liquid in the vials, despite the build up, nothing that happens once the trip starts in earnest feels worth the wait. On the other hand, perhaps Kathryn J. Schubert’s editing isn’t calibrated quite right. Comedy can live or die by pacing and it’s just a little too relaxed here to give the jokes the punch they need, so when a scene does have the right movement it sticks out. The film’s final scene, for instance, is so well done. Molly and Frankie’s rambling is perfectly underscored by the other characters’ more serious dialogue and watching it makes you wish the whole movie had that wild sense of play.
Whatever the core issue, The Wrong Girls is a stoner comedy more fun in theory than in practice. It has all the elements—a game cast, a good concept, an exciting sense of play—but it’s a slog to sit through. The jokes largely fall flat and the concept is buried in convoluted plotting. With the right edible or the right friends, it might be a fun hang, but for most, it’s a drag.
