Both Paul & myself take a look at the quietly released The Wrong Girls featuring a lot of stoner madness. Does it live up to the “buzz”? Sorry, bad joke. Read on!
About: Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat lead stoner comedy ‘The Wrong Girls,’ which finds two codependent friends living paycheck to paycheck (and bong rip to bong rip) caught up in a case of mistaken identity that leads to chaos. Seth Rogen, LaKeith Stanfield, Kumail Nanjiani, Tony Hale, Geena Davis and Kate McKinnon fill out the ensemble cast.
Paul’s Reaction: Yet another Cheech and Chong style doper comedy, only this one features two female pot smoking reprobates, which makes the whole thing feel a bit more original than it should. Stewart and Shawkat are both talented thespians who elevate this material way beyond what it deserves. In fact, the film was directed by Kristin Stewart’s real-life partner, which not only explains why she has agreed to slum it up in this movie, but also why her gamine-like beauty has never been better captured on film. Here, she plays two roles (Frankie and Frances) and a case of mistaken identity results in a case of new experimental drugs falling into the wrong hands. Frankie and her friend Molly don’t seem to be at all reluctant to try any new substance that might give them a thrill, and this new illicit substance is something they overdose on without suffering too many lethal consequences. Let’s face it, except for the original Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke, most of the subsequent doper films haven’t been that funny. (Unless you were so stoned yourself when you watched them that you would laugh at anything). The Harold and Kumar and the Friday films weren’t worth more than a chuckle. Pineapple Express and Dazed and Confused were probably the best at eliciting genuine stoner humour, and of course sometimes the doper comedy cause was best served by individual characters rather than full movies (think Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemount High). Anyway, The Wrong Girls does bring a fresh female blunt to a rather over-mined stash of comic cliches. Best appreciated in an altered state, for sure, man.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Jason’s Reaction: While I do love a fun stoner comedy, The Wrong Girls is just a really strange one for me that left me very disconnected throughout its surprisingly endless 98 minute run time. At least it FELT that way to me, as this Seth Rogen produced fable featuring two girls who never really seemed to want to grow up kind of made me feel sad while watching it, as it features two burnouts who come across a strange drug and the evil owners trying to get it back. I know that’s kind of the point, but the production here felt like there were too many cooks in the kitchen; it’s so over-written, over-acted and even over-cranked on its visuals that I just kind of disconnected from the material after about 30 minutes or so.
I can tell that Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat were having a lot of fun with their burnout performances. They are the standouts here and both look great even in their horrible wardrobe and seemingly endless tattoos. Yet all of the other performances, from Lakeith Stanfield, Kate McKinnon and Geena Davis all in bewildering roles, and right down to Kumail Nanjiani and Seth Rogen as cats where we can hear their thoughts ….just a little too over the top for me. There’s even a post-credit scene that just feels tacked on and left me wanting something more and wanting to put on the Harold & Kumar movies instead.
Rating: 4 out of 10
