Forbidden Fruits

Forbidden Fruits starts as a riff on Mean Girls, but set in a mall (somehow still thriving in 2026) at a store halfway between Forever 21 and Nordstrom, called "Forever Eden". The "Plastics" are replaced by the "Fruits", Apple (Lili Reinhart), Cherry (Victoria Pedretti), and Fig (Alexandra Shipp), twenty-somethings whose views of social dynamics and verbal tics would not be out of place in a high school. They rule the mall, by which I mean they assert they're at the top of its hierarchy, with only the whispers that open the movie providing any indication that others pay them much mind. And the bizarre way in which Pumpkin (Lola Tung) insists on bringing them samples of Sister Salt's pretzels. When she quips to Fig that she's perfectly happy, because "My job doesn't define me. My hotness and my personality do", the women decide to induct her into their coven.

Granted, it's not clear what the exact purpose of their witching is. It seems largely to be a power trip for Apple, who assembled the group and laid down its three rules, and wields them as a cudgel to control the other ladies' lives (much like Regina George). Although it does prove a tool for striking back at "vindicars", their term for people who take pleasure in the pain and suffering of others, conveniently those who threaten group cohesion in any way. For example, Pickle (Emma Chamberlain), a former Forever Eden employee and member of the Fruits (despite her incongruous name) who's only spoken of in hushed tones, reduced to haunting the mall.

Read my full review on Pop Culture Maniacs.