The Wrong Girls Is So Right For Women Who Love Weed and Cats [Review]

Dylan Meyer’s directorial debut, The Wrong Girls, is an enjoyable romp made specifically for women who love weed and cats. The new movie stars Meyer’s real-life wife, Kristen Stewart, as Frankie, a Stanford dropout-turned-delivery woman who spends her free time getting high with her roommate and best friend, Molly, played by Alia Shawkat. Molly loves making odd food creations, but isn’t motivated enough to turn it into a career despite encouragement from her boyfriend.

When Frankie’s ex starts dating a girl who looks exactly like her, a mix-up ensues that puts Frankie and Molly in possession of an experimental drug. The BFFs and their cats take the drug, gaining the ability to read each other’s minds. With their newfound telepathy powers and an urgency to find rent money, Frankie and Molly find themselves on an unexpected life-or-death adventure. The Wrong Girls also stars LaKeith Stanfield, Zack Fox, Kate McKinnon, Tony Hale, and Geena Davis. Seth Rogen and Kumail Nanjiani co-star as the cats, Dio and GG.

While the stoner comedy won’t give everyone the giggles, it’s refreshing to see a film that lets women be slackers. Meyer gives the project a stylish edge, which helps it feel timeless despite being set in the present day. Meanwhile, Stewart and Shawkat make a dynamic duo, and their friendship is infectious. If you’ve been waiting for women burnout representation, The Wrong Girls is the perfect movie to see with your bestie this summer.

Ganja Babes

When it comes to women-led stoner comedies, Gregg Araki’s Smiley Face has been the only great viewing option for nearly 20 years. Men have been monopolizing the genre for decades, and it’s time for a change. From Cheech and Chong classics and masterpieces like The Big Lebowski to staples such as Half Baked, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, and Pineapple Express, most fan-favorite stoner movies star men. The truth of the matter is, women also like marijuana! In The Wrong Girls, they love it so much that it becomes their superpower… literally. There’s no morality tale happening here, which is a genuine relief.

The Wrong Girls is giving us something we’ve been craving for a long time: women who get to be funny while f*cking up. In addition to getting high, women also do dumb sh*t and make generally poor decisions related to their own well-being. Frankie and Molly are both hot messes, but there’s a relatability to that that women don’t often get to see onscreen. This is especially true in the comedy genre. Women characters who make mistakes are often relegated to dramas, and their misfortunes are rarely something to laugh at. While the jokes in The Wrong Girls don’t always land, we’re just happy they’re there at all.

Comedy & Cats

We can’t pretend The Wrong Girls is the funniest movie ever made. Joke-writing doesn’t seem to come as naturally to Meyer as worldbuilding, but there are still laughs to be had. Both Stewart and Shawkat are effortlessly funny, and the supporting cast is incredibly strong. McKinnon especially stands out, which won’t surprise any fan of the SNL alum. She manages to deliver every single line in a way no other human being could have ever considered.

Frankie and Molly’s journey can get tropey at times, but the film is also filled with creativity. If you’re going to make a stoner movie with telepathy, you better have fun with it. Thankfully, that’s exactly what Meyer does. The best choice in the entire film was giving cats the ability to communicate with their owners. Meyer is very obviously a cat person and knows how to translate that affection onscreen. In a world where drugs can give you mind-reading powers, why not extend those powers to a couple of sassy felines? Both Rogen and Nanjiani were excellent choices to provide the voices for GG and Dio. Rogen is famously a stoner, so his presence gives the movie an extra level of credibility. As for Nanjiani, the comedian is a known cat lover, and often talks about his cats in stand-up. Together, they embody the felines in ways that all cat lovers will appreciate.

The Straight(?) Girls

While it’s unfair to criticize a movie for being extremely heterosexual, we can’t deny we were surprised by the film’s lack of queerness. In a project filled with telepathy and talking cats, the fact that Frankie and Molly were both into men was the biggest twist. We wrongfully assumed a movie written and directed by a queer woman, starring queer women, would have at least one openly queer character. Queer people are in no way required to tell queer stories, so one could argue that this was Meyer’s way of pushing back against being stereotyped as a creator. However, it’s hard to imagine there won’t be some disappointed viewers out there, and that feeling is also valid.

Meyer may have chosen to make her characters like men, but at least the men in question are delightful. Zack Fox plays Molly’s boyfriend, Josh, and he could not be more lovely. Oftentimes, stoner comedies see their (typically male) protagonists dealing with nagging girlfriends. While Josh does push Molly to have more ambition in life, it only ever comes from a genuine place. There is no moment in the movie when you root against him, which is a pretty impressive bit of writing. It’s also worth noting that Dio the cat spends the movie obsessed with him. Anyone who knows cats knows they’re prone to falling in love with their human’s boyfriends. Go look it up on TikTok.

The Right Friendship

While The Wrong Girls may be lacking in romance between women, its focus on female friendship is glorious. It’s always nice to see gals who love each other unconditionally onscreen, even if that love is platonic. Frankie and Molly’s relationship isn’t perfect, but it is special. They’re a little too co-dependent even before they can read each other’s minds. They also encourage the other’s worst instincts. However, they have each other’s backs and understand each other completely. Anyone with a best friend will see themselves in Frankie and Molly, even those who don’t spend their days getting high and doing the bare minimum.

Stewart and Shawkat also deserve a shout-out for how much they were able to convey in their performances without speaking. Due to the telepathy throughline, much of the movie’s dialogue is done through voiceover. The seasoned actors had no trouble staying connected to the inner thoughts of their characters, which helped make the movie flow.

While The Wrong Girls isn’t a perfect comedy, it’s one worth watching. The cast, the style, and the cats are enough to warrant a trip to the theatre.

The Wrong Girls is being released by NEON on August 14th.