‘Forbidden Fruits’ Movie Review: Witchy Mallrats Are Cool But Not As Cool As ‘The Craft’ Or ‘Mean Girls’
Photo from Independent Film Company
From Jeremy Kibler
If Heathers, The Craft, Jawbreaker, and Mean Girls were part of a coven, Forbidden Fruits would be next in line to pledge. It wears its influences on its ass-hugging shorts like a badge of girly-pop honor, although it feels uniquely its own in style and attitude. A witchy horror-comedy set entirely inside a Dallas shopping mall couldn’t possibly miss, and yet, while it surely aspires to be spoken in the same breath as its influential, rewatchable sisters, Forbidden Fruits can’t match those heights.
At a boho-chic boutique called Free Eden, three star retail workers—all named after fruits—rule the mall. Apple (Lili Reinhart) is the queen bee, while Fig (Alexandra Shipp) and the flighty Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) are like her minions. After hours when the mall closes, these hot shopgirls reconvene as a coven, drinking potions and putting hexes on people. As Pumpkin (Lola Tung), who works at the nearby Auntie Anne’s-ish pretzel shop, is recruited by the girls and starts working at Free Eden, she begins sniffing out what happened to the fourth Fruit before her.
Sisterhood and the goal of “women supporting women” get turned into performative weapons in Forbidden Fruits, which is heightened and biting enough to be satire but only truly cares about its characters until a certain point. This marks the first feature from director Meredith Alloway, who co-wrote the script with Lily Houghton (adapting her own play Of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die), and while there is total admiration on display, even more depth with these characters would have made the rushed plot reveals land with more emotional impact.
With that said, there is still a specific language to the bitchy dialogue that’s always appreciated, much like Heathers and even Jennifer’s Body (which makes sense as Diablo Cody is a producer on the film). Sarah Millman’s costume design is also key to differentiating who these four young women are. This quad of young actresses is living deliciously, even if the material affords very few of the characters to feel like they have real lives outside of that mall.
Lili Reinhart is spectacularly fierce and fun, relishing every one of Apple’s tart one-liners with ruthless bite. Victoria Pedretti (known for her TV work in both The Haunting of Hill House and You) gets the chance to be comedically loose as the perky but easily influenced Cherry, who’s told by Apple until she believes it that she has a lot of “unattractive qualities” and “a very bad case of main character syndrome.” Pedretti could have just played Cherry as an airhead, but she finds a heart and a vulnerability. Alexandra Shipp, who’s always instantly appealing and sharp in any role she takes, could have easily fallen into the background with the less-showy part, but she still manages to hold her own as Fig. Finally, Lola Tung (The Summer I Turned Pretty) is likable as the newcomer, shielding Pumpkin’s true intentions with a cute naiveté.
There’s an alt-trendy air about Forbidden Fruits that’s stylish and bewitching most of the time, but ultimately, it doesn’t come together. The tornado-set climax suddenly takes a turn into Final Destination territory, and how gnarly it is (even rivaling a certain escalator death with practical effects). As much as the ending tries to defy a formulaic conclusion, it doesn’t satisfy, including a go-nowhere mid-credits sequence with a beloved actress who will not be named as the Fruits’ boss.
Forbidden Fruits has a lot going for it within its small means, but it never leaves the same iconic impression as it may presume it does. Even so, pentagram-sporting mallrats may find it ripe for a cult following and start quoting it in no time.
Rating: 2.5/5
Forbidden Fruits is currently in select theaters.
