My Favorite Girlfriend Parent Guide

Conrad (Tyler Johnson) struggles with dating because of his exacting nature. Then he meets Molly (Bonnie Piesse) who unlocks the fun, spontaneous side of his personality. There’s a catch: Molly’s not alone in her body. She has multiple personalities, and none of those personalities have any memory of what happens when the others are in control.

On every single level this is an awful movie. The premise, the framing device, the casting, the writing, even the lighting are all bad. I can’t even begin to tell you, dear reader, what a torturous experience this was for me. I spent 90 minutes groaning so loudly that I suspect my neighbors think I’ve caught a horrible disease.

The premise itself if problematic at best. Yes, dissociative identity disorder is a real disorder, but this is portrayal is not realistic and it veers very quickly into dangerous stereotypes. I’m not a psychologist so I can’t speak to all the inaccuracies at play here aside from what a cursory Google search told me, but there is a persistent and dangerous myth that people with the disorder always have at least one violent personality, which is how the disorder is often portrayed in media. My Favorite Girlfriend plays into this myth, which is enough for me to dislike this film. It is irresponsible and dangerous to continue to push the narrative that people with mental disorders are violent. On top of that, the movie tries to tackle obsessive compulsive disorder, but only in the most shallow, inaccurate way possible. OCD isn’t just about tapping your fingers or keeping things in straight lines and portraying it as such is, again, irresponsible.

More offensive issues aside, everything else about this movie is as bad as the premise. The writing is laughably atrocious in every line. The writers inexplicably chose to frame the storyaround narration by Conrad’s best friend, Will (Keston John), which just feels awkward and clunky, because there is absolutely no reason for this story to be narrated. The actors are all terrible, though Tyler Johnson is the worst of the bunch. I caught him sneaking a peek at the camera multiple times like a child in a school play.

Obviously, this is not a film for all ages, and I can’t recommend it to anyone. Not because of the content concerns, but just because of how indescribably dreadful it is.