TL;DR: A messy mall-witch comedy about mean girls playing at power, it’s funny and unpredictable but never quite comes together, but worth a watch for the vibes, not for the message.
A Mall, A Coven, And A Whole Lot Of Attitude
Forbidden Fruits leans hard into exaggerated confidence, featuring a slightly unhinged world where retail workers act like a secret society, and at the center of it all is Apple, who runs her little group like a mix between a cult leader and the most intimidating girl in school.
She’s sharp, controlling, and quite fascinating to watch, and she's backed up by Cherry, who leans fully into being the eager sidekick, and Fig, who at least pretends she has a life outside of this whole thing.
Together, they’re known as “The Fruits,” which is as ridiculous as it sounds, and the film knows it.
The setting is supposed to be modern day, but it actually feels like the film got stuck somewhere between 1995 and now - the mall is thriving, people are hanging out there like it’s the only place on earth, and no one seems to have heard of online shopping.
And then there’s the question of how old these characters are, because they act like teenagers, they form cliques, they gossip, they obsess over status, but they also casually mention degrees and future plans like they’re already adults, and it never really lines up, but you just have to accept that they exist in their own weird timeline where age doesn’t matter.
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Witchy Rituals, But Make It Retail
The whole coven angle is where things really go off the rails, in both good and bad ways, as these girls aren’t just coworkers, they’re doing full-on rituals after hours - we’re talking chanting, drinking mysterious liquids out of a sparkly cowboy boot, and somehow involving the ghost of Marilyn Monroe in their group therapy sessions.
And I kind of loved how committed the film was to being that weird, as it doesn’t half-do it, it fully leans into the absurdity, which makes some scenes genuinely funny, but the problem is, it never really decides what these rituals mean - Are they powerful? Are they a joke? Are we supposed to take them seriously? The film keeps switching its mind.
When Pumpkin, joins the group, things should feel like they’re building toward something, as she’s the outsider, the new perspective, the obvious entry point for the audience, but even then, the story keeps drifting away from her, where one minute it feels like she’s the main character, the next she’s just there, so it becomes a bit messy.
It Wants To Say Something, But Doesn’t Quite Get There
There’s a lot going on under the surface, or at least it tries to have a lot going on, as the film is packed with references to religion and mythology - the store is called Eden, their hangout is Paradise, and they call their enemies snakes - and Apple herself is clearly meant to represent temptation, power, maybe even rebellion.
There’s also this thread about female independence, control, and the way some people perform empowerment without actually living it, and the girls talk a big game about sticking together and rejecting men, but they’re constantly tearing each other down and judging other women.
That could have been really sharp, but it just ends up being there and not really that interesting, as it just points at those ideas and moves on, so it never actually digs deep enough to feel intentional.
But even when the story starts to fall apart, the cast keeps things somewhat watchable.
Lili Reinhart especially holds it together, where she plays Apple with just enough edge to make her fun instead of completely unbearable, while Victoria Pedretti brings a chaotic energy that works well for the tone, and Alexandra Shipp gives Fig a bit more grounding.
The dialogue is also strong - it’s fast, it’s mean, and sometimes it’s genuinely hilarious - and there are moments where it hits that perfect mix of ridiculous and sharp.
Messy, Entertaining, And All Over The Place
Forbidden Fruits kind looks great, and we do get flashes of brilliance, but it’s all a bit disconnected, as there’s no clear thread tying it all together.
It pulls inspiration from a bunch of older films, you can feel it in the tone and style, but it never quite figures out how to make those influences its own, so it just ends up feeling like a collage of cool ideas that don’t fully connect.
That doesn’t mean it’s boring, though, and I was entertained enough at times, even when I had no idea what the film was trying to do - it’s unpredictable, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a frustrating way.
Final Thoughts
Forbidden Fruits is certainly not afraid to be weird, but it ends up being too scattered and doesn’t follow through on its own ideas.
It’s the kind of film people will probably argue about, some will love it for the chaos, others will be annoyed by the lack of direction, and I’m somewhere in the middle I think.