French Netflix film “Wingwomen”, which came out a few days ago, is a flawed but enjoyable crime comedy simply having a fun with its three female main characters. Whenever they gather on the screen, the movie cheerfully coasts along the leisurely chemistry among them, and you may forgive a number of weak aspects in the film as occasionally amused by their comic interactions throughout the story.

At first, we are introduced to Carole (Mélanie Laurent) and Alex (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a female criminal duo who have been worked and lived together since they came across each other a long time ago. During the opening scene, they are finishing their latest heist job despite several setbacks including the deadly drones chasing after them, and the movie generates some wry laugh from how they smoothly handle their work while also casually bickering with each other to the end.

Nevertheless, Carole and Alex love and care a lot about each other as longtime friends/colleagues. When she is notified that she is pregnant, Carole begins to consider retirement more seriously than before, and Alex is also willing to retire along with her for having a less eventful life together, but, needless to say, that is the last thing wanted by their boss/mentor Marraine (Isabelle Adjani). When Marraine gives another heist job to handle, Carole naturally refuses at first, but then Marraine shows her old protégé how ruthless she can be for getting what she wants, and Carole has no choice but to accept that heist job while promised that it will be the last one to be done by her and Alex.

The target of that heist job in question is a certain valuable artwork currently being exhibited at a building located in Corsica, and what Alex and Carole will have to do looks pretty simple. First, they must steal the blueprint of that building, and then, after some preparation assisted by two local criminal figures, they will infiltrate into that building later. In addition, they will also be allowed to have a sort of private vacation there in the meantime thanks to the courtesy of their boss.

Because they happen to need one more person for their heist job, Carole and Alex approach to Sam (Manon Bresch), who will work as their getaway driver due to her considerable driving skill shown during her first scene in the film. As these three ladies spend some time together in Corsica, Alex and Carole gladly accept Sam as the new member of their team, and Sam is happy and excited to be around her two new friends/colleagues while becoming less guarded than before.

Even when these three ladies embark on their heist job later in the story, the movie maintains its loose narrative pacing as before, and the overall result leans more toward comedy and personality instead of thriller and suspense. Our three criminal ladies surely must be careful as much as possible during their risky work, but they are clearly having a ball with working together, and the movie subsequently adds extra absurdity when they are about to enter the final stage of their heist plan.

Although its main characters are mostly broad archetypes, the screenplay by Cédric Anger and Christophe Deslandes, which is based on the comic book of the same name by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert, and Bastien Vies, colorfully depicts their plucky personalities while throwing a few unexpected plot turns into the story. In case of one particular sex scene between Alex and one of the two aforementioned criminal figures, it tickles us when they come to try something kinky, and then it catches us off guard when the situation abruptly becomes quite risky with lots of shattered glass on the floor.

The movie comes to lose some of its narrative momentum during its last act, and the following ending is a blatant cop out to say the least, but it still works to some degree while its three main performers effortlessly click together as before. Mélanie Laurent, who also directed the film, and Adèle Exarchopoulos, who has steadily advanced since her breakout turn in “Blue is the Warmest Color” (2013), are certainly enjoying every juicy moment between them in the film, and Manon Bresch also holds her own place well between Laurent and Exarchopoulos as the third member of the group. In case of several supporting performers in the film, Philippe Katerine and Félix Moati have each own little fun as the two criminal associates of our three criminal ladies, and Isabelle Adjani, who somehow does not seem to be aged much even though it has been more than 45 years since her haunting Oscar-nominated performance in François Truffaut’s “The Story of Adele H.” (1975), is certainly another entertaining element in the film as playing her evil character with gusto.

Overall, “Wingwomen” is not good enough for recommendation in my trivial opinion, but it is not a total waste of time at all mainly because Laurent and her fellow cast members are apparently having a fun time together as reflected by a series of video clips shown during its end credits. Although it may look rather frivolous compared to her previous film “The Mad Women’s Ball” (2021), Laurent demonstrates here that she can be fairly good at lightweight stuffs just like she could competently handle the serious period drama of “The Mad Women’s Ball”, and I think she will continue to impress us as a good director just like she has done as a talented actress.