The premise for Forbidden Fruits hints at escalating acts of witchcraft driven by an all-female coven, while marketing materials are quick to push the involvement of producer Diablo Cody to the fore, celebrating her screenwriting credit for Jennifer’s Body as a significant cultural forebear. And it would not be off base to describe Forbidden Fruits as aspiring to be be something like The Craft meets Mean Girls, analyzing a literal spellbinding quartet of young women who must adhere to the self-governing policies of their own clique in a Texan shopping mall. But if this sounds like a potential recipe for some vampy fun, the reality is more stagnant in practice, with the film ultimately stymieing itself by remaining confined to a single setting. That’s not to say that Forbidden Fruits is without its charms: the film is often winningly acted, for instance, coasting along nicely on the considerable charisma of its four lead performers. But given the film’s enduring, intersecting cultural influences and witchy premise, director Meredith Alloway — making her theatrical debut here — should have had been able to knock this out of the park. She doesn’t.
Alloway, who co-scripted the film with Lily Houghton — adapting the latter’s stage play, titled Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die — at least delivers a strong first impression, introducing us to the fearsome Apple (Lili Reinhart), the Regina George of the group, who dumps her cup of scalding hot coffee into the lap of a perverted motorist furiously masturbating in the car next to hers. Apple is a salesperson at Free Eden, a clothing boutique at Highland Place Mall in Dallas, Texas. Apple is always accompanied by her two colleagues, royal ditz Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) and intellectual Fig (Alexandra Shipp), and the trio reign supreme over their consumerist empire. One day, their attention is turned to presence of food court sampler Pumpkin (Lola Tung), subsequently offering her a spot in their clandestine coven and completing their seasonal fruit-structured network. Quickly becoming acquainted with Apple’s iron-fist ruling, Pumpkin finds herself climbing up the ranks of Free Eden, much to the chagrin of stalwarts Cherry and Fig, while the re-emergence of former member Pickle (Emma Chamberlain) threatens to shake up the status quo and spin it into something considerably more violent.
Much like Mean Girls, there are rules to follow as employees of Free Eden, lest anyone face the wrath of an implacable Apple. Ceremonies are capped with the imbibing of blood out of a bedazzled boot, texting boys via emojis is the mandatory mode of communication, charm bracelets are now an essential accessory, and any issues can be prayed away to the spirit of Marilyn Monroe in the boutique’s changing rooms. It’s a lot to follow, but Pumpkin ingratiates herself to Apple’s ways, leaving Fig and Cherry on the outs. Fig, who yearns for higher education to escape the world of retail, also maintains a secret relationship with her boyfriend, one of the many “Don’ts” of Apple’s coven. And Cherry can’t get enough sex on Wednesdays, another infraction for the Free Eden team. It’s worth noting these guidelines primarily because the compiling violations threaten to spill into something pleasantly nasty that will validate the weight of the setup, but once the power dynamics are firmly established, Alloway can’t quite figure out where Forbidden Fruits should go. The return of Pickle hints again hints at some burbling conflict, but that plotline is wrapped up almost as quickly as its introduced, letting out much of the film’s steam. Of course, violence does eventually ensue, but the execution is unfortunately hobbled by the film’s minimal budget, leaving those thirsting for cinematic blood likely to be sorely disappointed. Forbidden Fruits mitigates its deficits as best it can with its game performers, the standouts being Reinhart and Pedretti — the former is terrifically sardonic and truly owns her caustic dialogue in a way that feels iconic, while the latter makes the stereotype of the bubbly blonde airhead her own. But ultimately Forbidden Fruits is less about witchcraft than it is about a coven of personalities, and while some will certainly find enough pleasure in following that path, the returns feels increasingly diminished as we realize there’s no real endgame here beyond imitation. Alloway’s film simply needed more bite and idiosyncrasy if it wanted to transcend the borrowed parts it has here cobbled together.
DIRECTOR: Meredith Alloway; CAST: Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Chamberlain; DISTRIBUTOR: Independent Film Company; IN THEATERS: March 27; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 43 min.
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