Wingwomen Parent Guide

Two expert thieves and best friends, Carole (Melanie Laurent) and Alex (Adele Exarchopoulos), dream of a life without crime. But try as they might, their handler, the Godmother (Isabelle Adjani) refuses to let them quit. Desperate, the two hatch a scheme to do one last big job and buy their freedom, with the help of new recruit Sam (Manon Bresch). But Carole is keeping a secret from Alex that could change their relationship forever.

As a heist movie lover, I greatly appreciate the premise of this movie. The heist itself is merely a backdrop to the female friendships, and how their relationships are affected by their life of crime. I am all about intense female friendships getting more airtime, and Exarchopoulos and Laurent have amazing chemistry, and both give stellar performances. Unfortunately, the writing fails both them and the premise.

Although the first act is solid, with great character work and fun action sequences, the movie falls apart as soon as the second act starts. At no point does this film have a consistent tone. It vacillates wildly between high octane action, drama, emotional montages, and comedy. In the hands of better writers, I do think it could have worked. What could never have worked is the horrible ending. I won’t spoil anything, but it has been a while since I shouted, “this makes no sense!” at a film that isn’t aimed at toddlers.

If that doesn’t turn you off, the content concerns probably will. There are high amounts of swearing (over five dozen sexual expletives) and violence, along with a touch of male frontal nudity and smoking, which will turn off most audiences. Even if there weren’t those concerns, I still wouldn’t recommend this film. Watching it actually made me angry because I loved the idea behind it and I could see an amazing production buried in there somewhere but lost in the hands of incompetent writers.