‘The Wrong Girls’: The high adventures of two very devoted friends

Friends Frankie (Kristen Stewart) and Molly's (Alia Shawkat) devotion to each other is surpassed only by their dedication to spending all day stoned. Weed comedies have often been built upon male duos: Cheech and Chong, Harold and Kumar. Queer director Dylan Meyer’s “The Wrong Girls” lets women into this picture. The biggest  joke in “The Wrong Girls” is that Frankie and Molly are too baked to understand what’s going on around them, even when they’re in danger. One can tell that even without weed, they wouldn’t be concerned with being productive. The film refuses to moralize or punish them for this. Their friendship lets them slip away unscathed. As the credits roll, smoke passes through an elaborate water pipe. After taking a hit, Frankie and Molly lie back and watch nature documentaries on a ceiling-mounted TV. Weed helps them forget that they’re a small step away from poverty. Their landlord shows up to demand the rent. Although Frankie claims she’ll pay it the next day, she has no income other than menial delivery work. Molly receives a bill for $2,400 dollars. She responds the way she usually does: lighting a joint. When Frankie heads to a club to see the punk band Mannequin Pussy, she spots her boyfriend with a woman who looks just like her. She meets Dave (Lakeith Stanfield), who gives her a drink, takes her back to his apartment, and passes her a briefcase with tubes of glowing liquid. Although she has no idea what’s going on, he’s mistaken Frankie for her doppelganger. Without Frankie’s knowledge, she’s been given vials of a new psychedelic drug extracted from squid testicles. When she and Molly open the briefcase and realize what it contains, they decide to sell it. Trying out the substance for themselves, they have a bad trip, which gives them the power of telepathy. Frankie and Molly develop the ability to communicate with their cats. All the while, a group of Danish men are trying to hunt them down and steal back their drugs. 20 years ago, “The Wrong Girls” would be an ordinary studio film, but its terrain was ceded to television shows like “Broad City.” Now, comedies rarely get the kind of wide theatrical release “The Wrong Girls” is receiving. As a result, making laughs work at feature length, rather than stringing together sketches for 90 minutes, has become a lost art. “The Wrong Girls” takes a while to achieve full outrageousness and overplays its hand at times. Cranky talking cats are only funny for so long. But whenever it threatens to turn into schtick, the core reality of Frankie and Molly’s relationship keeps the film aloft. Stewart and Shawkat commit to the bit. In the funniest scene in “The Wrong Girls,” they turn up at a party and ineptly try to sell the drugs they’ve found. They’re so spacey they strike up conversations they can’t hold down, approaching strangers in suits and awkwardly bringing up the subject of drugs. Wildly out of place among these wealthy, respectable folks, they don’t realize it. It’s difficult to create and embody such characters without mocking them, but the film stays on the side of being a “wrong girl.” The man hosting the party is freaky in a much more screwed-up way: he stuck his penis in the cans of dip he’s serving. Both Stewart and Shawkat are bi, and Dylan Meyer is Stewart’s wife. Out lesbian actor Kate McKinnon has a small role as a scientist. This casting and these personal connections contribute to a queer subtext. Frankie and Molly may not be sexually attracted to each other, but they reassure each other “I love you,” after a montage of their experiences together. Their deepest emotional commitment goes towards other women. In comparison, the men they date are afterthoughts. Mind-reading only enhances a bond that already exists. As the rom-com has fallen out of fashion, “The Wrong Girls” plows a different path. Even if Frankie and Molly are heterosexual, the film is hardly heteronormative. Back in the ‘80s, the Partnership For A Drug-Free America released a PSA in which a stoned girl walked obliviously through dangerous city streets. “The Wrong Girls” extends the concept, taking out any anti-drug message. While it may not be wise to spend all day so stoned you can’t think straight, part of this film’s charm is that it engineers a way to make it work for Frankie and Molly. They’re screw-ups, but they find their life more rewarding than hustling to make money all day, even if that’s necessary. Their safety is a highly generous fantasy. Rather than telepathy, deep friendship is their real hidden power. “The Wrong Girls” | Directed by Dylan Meyer | Neon | Opened citywide August 14th