Written and directed by Eamon O’Rourke
Starring Kiersey Clemons, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp, and Ezra Miller
Runtime: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R
In Theaters, Digital, and On Demand March 4

by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

After Joey (Kiersey Clemons) is sexually assaulted by a former friend, she meets Regina (Alexandra Shipp), who introduces her to a girl gang focused on taking down rapists and bad men. Joey comes along for what Regina describes as a “clean up the streets program.” Their focus eventually lands on Mark Vanderhill (Ezra Miller), a men’s rights activist who tells men to assert their dominance and take what they want by force. On the gang’s trip, they also take down a frat, discover more about one of their own, and meet a group of boys who live off the grid.

With some stylized editing, flashy cuts, and character introductions, this movie really wants you to think it’s cool. Pitched as an edgy thriller about an all-femme, no mercy girl gang, it’s very much style over substance and shock value prioritized over story. This movie opens with clips from Vanderhill’s men’s rights videos, and these clips are interspersed a bit more afterward, perhaps a bit haphazardly. I understand why the filmmaker probably wanted to introduce Miller’s character earlier than the 30-minute mark, which is when the gang first discusses him as a target. But it ends up giving his storyline way more weight than it needed. And unfortunately, while I think Ezra Miller is certainly doing his best (most?) here to convey a cross between an Alpha Male Pick-Up Artist and Alex Jones, it just doesn’t quite come together for me.

The movie sometimes wants to focus on Joey and her attacker, as we see several hazy flashbacks (though no scenes of actual violence, which I appreciate) throughout the movie, and indeed, the last part of the movie is a confrontation between Joey and her rapist. But the story gets muddled in the middle with Joey and Regina going undercover to infiltrate a frat house, Sal (Radha Mitchell) revealing her previous relationship with a cop (seemingly the only Good Guy on the force), and culminating in a standoff with the evil sheriff who runs a sex trafficking ring.

While Joey is undoubtedly the protagonist of the story, we don’t really know much about her beyond that she works as a waitress and has a loving relationship with her grandparents. There are hints throughout, but no real fleshed out backstory. There are also a bunch of women in the girl gang that are introduced but never given much weight either. Even Beatrice (Vanessa Hudgens) and Lily (Leslie Stratton) don’t get much focus, though they’re most often traveling with Joey and Regina. And while I would love to say that the relationships between the women in the gang feel fully realized… Well, I can’t. This movie wants to be About Women, without really being about these women in particular.

However, there are some nuggets in this movie that are impactful. I found Joey and Regina’s friendship really engrossing to watch, and I liked when the movie slowed down a bit to show them connecting as humans. The sequence of the gang taking down the frat house was really fun, with Joey and Regina taking on party girl looks to infiltrate and let the rest of the gang in. I appreciate that the movie at least touched on things like police violence, murdered and missing Indigenous women, and the disproportional amount of violence women face and must internalize every day. However, it all felt a bit surface level. There’s a deeper movie possible here, beneath the flashy editing and shock value, but it doesn’t quite get there.