‘The Wrong Girls’: Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat Reach Bong-Ripping Glory in Dylan Meyer’s Energized Stoner Comedy

Alci Rengifo

Like most genres, there is a particular art to the making of a good stoner comedy. Dylan Meyer’s compulsively watchable “The Wrong Girls” is a stoner comedy par excellence. As a directorial debut, it announces Meyer as a filmmaker of dynamic energy, capable of grabbing familiar elements and making them feel fresh with a stellar cast. Kristen Stewart (Meyer’s spouse) and Alia Shawkat provide the perfect, bong-ripping vessels for the story, giving it a genuine Punk attitude. Great losers in cinema can become so endearing when given just enough of a human touch. Most of us try to hide feeling like a disappointment in late-stage capitalist society, these ladies live it up.

Frankie (Stewart) and Molly (Shawkat) live in Los Angeles on the fringes of civilized society. They live together in a house, meaning in this city that they owe a lot of rent and other debt. Their living room is baptized “The Casa de Chill Zone,” where their TV is mounted on the ceiling while below they get high with a device designed by Frankie, the Bong-o-Tron. For them it is sheer paradise as they gaze up at a recurring image of a floating bioluminescent squid. There is more to these friends, of course. Frankie was once a Stanford student majoring in engineering before a meltdown caused her to drop out. Her emotions get roiled when she sees on social media that her ex-boyfriend is now dating a girl who looks exactly like her, but who happens to be a scientist. Distraught, Frankie stalks the couple at a local club before bumping into a mysterious man (LaKeith Stanfield) she will call Not Metal Head Dave. He takes a drunken Frankie back home to hand over a stainless steel suitcase containing a top secret substance. Dave doesn’t realize he has the wrong girl and so now Frankie and Molly are thrown into a high level conspiracy.

Meyer directs with the feverish drive of a millennial borrowing from past favorites. There is a link from this movie to stoner rides like “Pineapple Express,” the Punk cinema of Alex Cox, such as “Repo Man,” and odes to misfit friendships, like “Ghost World.” This film joins the best of them because it has heart and lively creativity. Meyer and her crew delight in the joy of putting together images, including with trippy opening and end credits that look fit for a ‘70s film. The cinematography by Todd Banhazl always feels alive and full of color, something rare these days even in superhero movies. Singer-songwriter Ty Segall does the kinetic score mixed with a soundtrack that includes needle drops from bands like Mannequin Pussy. In its look and spirit, “The Wrong Girls” is like a clarion call to the sort of free-wheeling rebellion few films celebrate anymore. 

Attitude is key in these films where the characters feel so offbeat because they don’t care for normal conduct, constantly dressed like a thrift store hurricane. Frankie hotboxes around L.A. while making deliveries, including to one farcical client in an upscale home who tries to shame her for lighting a joint, while he brags on the phone about the drugged out, debauched party he’s having later that night. The villains are just as ridiculous, like a trio of Nordic goons in fine suits, who obsessively use hand sanitizer, sent to retrieve the suitcase Not Metal Head Dave left with Frankie. The most normal person around seems to be Josh (Zack Fox), Molly’s incredibly nice boyfriend. Frankie burns with hostility towards him, maybe out of jealousy but also, we suspect, because he’s so regular in such an irregular environment. It gets even weirder when the women try the substance in the suitcase and begin to exhibit potential psychic powers, which include the ability to hear their cats (hilariously voiced by Seth Rogen and Kumail Nanjiani). The buddies also can’t help but giggle when their main adversary is revealed to be Dr. Kock (Sugar Lyn Beard).

The material works even better because the leads bring such heart to the roles. Stewart is being directed by her spouse, so there is a particular chemistry at play here, yet her performance should be judged on its own terms. She makes Frankie scrappy but plagued by the vulnerability of someone aware that they are talented, but are relegated to the fringes because of certain choices. Molly warns Josh not to bring up Stanford, since it’s like a bruise in Frankie’s personality she cannot get over. Alia Shawkat is the slightly more “mature” friend, feeling protective of Frankie while sensing the pull of Josh wanting to start an actual life together. All the bongs, chemicals and hallucinations are fun décor for a story that is really about living outside of the box in these times. The neo-Punk ethos is almost timeless precisely because every era, in its own way, tries to make us conform. Not Metal Head Dave admits he wouldn’t date Frankie because she’s a “hot-ass mess.” In a very positive way that’s how you could also describe this film. “The Wrong Girls” gets high on adrenaline, style, and the hidden wit of its script. Meyer throws a great, anti-social party and, hopefully, she will be allowed to do so again.

“The Wrong Girls” releases Aug. 14 in theaters nationwide.