“Horsegirls” – Movie Review
Directed by: Lauren Meyering
Written by: Lauren Meyering and Mackenzie Breeden
Starring: Gretchen Mol, Lillian Carrier, Jerod Haynes, Iqbal Theba, and Matthew Schwab
Runtime: 101 minutes
‘Horsegirls’ gallops with emotion at times,
but it meanders too often throughout the cinematic race.
Margarita is a popular drink, one that can be enjoyed with Mexican food.
On the rocks with salt, served with chicken enchiladas, rice, beans, and a side of sour cream on a Friday night might be a small slice of heaven for this movie critic.
In director/co-writer Lauren Meyering’s “Horsegirls”, Margarita (Lillian Carrier) is an autistic 22-year-old who lives with her mom (Gretchen Mol). She’s not terribly popular, and this talkative 20-something will awkwardly spill the story of how her parents conjured up her name (because they consumed the said drink on the night she was conceived), but all is not well in their home currently.
Sandy (Mol) is going through hell. She has breast cancer.
Struggling through the pain and the emotional toil of (potentially) facing her own mortality decades sooner than she planned wears on Sandy’s psyche, but her primary concern is her daughter.
How will Margarita make it in the world without her? More specifically, she worries about Margarita supporting herself after she’s gone, hopefully years and years from now, but Sandy frets that death’s door may open for her soon.
This is the premise for Meyering’s feature film debut, a movie that centers around a caring yet contentious mother-daughter relationship. In many ways, Sandy and Margarita share the same experience with households everywhere, namely the complex nuances of showing warm love while also holding each other’s feet to the fire through arguments and impatient, raised voices.
However, the two named medical realities exacerbate this contention.
There certainly is an audience for “Horsegirls”. This quirky, indie flick is an easy fit for a film festival, and anyone who is a mom or daughter could instantly - and probably intimately - relate to Sandy and Margarita’s vibes. Mol and Carrier (who has autism in real life) give authentic, sympathetic performances, as Sandy copes with her disease and Margarita struggles for acceptance outside her home.
“Horsegirls” seems poised for a strong, galloping cinematic run for 101 minutes, but the film misses its stride in a few ways, including the awkward execution of the main plot device based on the film’s title.
Look, Sandy wants Margarita to earn a paycheck. This young woman needs to prepare for the real world, but Margarita procrastinates over the idea.
However, this 22-year-old scores a job at a Halloween store with an initially skeptical boss, Hank (Iqbal Theba), but Margarita wins him over, and she finds herself diligently helping customers, stocking shelves, and fitting in nicely in an abundance of delightful doodads of dress-up.
The marriage between drama-free employment and Margarita’s responsibilities is short-lived, though, when she discovers the existence of a hobby horse dance troupe.
Yes, you heard that right, and yes, hobby horse dance competitions are a thing.
Well, Meyering and the cast and crew filmed “Horsegirls” in Portland, Ore., so there you go.
Have you ever watched “Portlandia” (2011 - 2018)?
The troupe’s coach is named Coach (Jerod Haynes). He leads the group of teenage girls on their toy-pony hopes of dance-team nirvana, when Margarita charges into Coach’s practice and asks to join.
Even though the age limit is 18, Coach inexplicably invites Margarita (which seems like an impossibility in 2026) to enlist with his merry band of teen performers. Still, most teenagers on Planet Earth are far from joyous, and Margarita’s acceptance seems more challenging than a hobby horse’s chances of winning the Kentucky Derby.
“Horsegirls” then shifts between the Coach’s gym, Margarita’s home, and Hank’s Halloween shop, as screenwriters Meyering and Mackenzie Breeden (who have been friends since college) heighten Margarita’s anxiety, because the script places her in the stressful position of skipping out on her day job to attend practice…and then lying to her mom.
(Everyone in theatre knows how this conversation will eventually go.)
Certainly, the three primary locations have eccentric charm, including Sandy and Margarita’s home, which sports a lovely, throwback ‘70s production design. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of the actual time spent in these locales feels uninspired.
This is led by the unfocused choreography of the hobby horse dance routines that don’t seem to build towards anything, and instead, resemble uncoordinated, random movements by the kids. If the unimaginative dancing was designed for laughs, well, these moments will cause more eyerolls or furrowed brows than belly laughs.
However, Jerod and Lillian share resonant mentor-mentee synergy, as Coach offers patience, respect, and outright kindness, and Margarita returns her admiration.
The Halloween shop, with a cornucopia of costume merchandise at Meyering’s disposal, is not explored, and the manager-employee dynamics between Hank and Margarita almost entirely disappear after their first interaction. Her co-worker, Felix (Matthew Schwab), fills in as Margarita’s main connection at the store, and to Schwab’s credit, he does deliver the funniest line in the film.
Margarita’s relationship with her mom is obviously the most important, and Mol and Carrier share worthy chemistry as they both cope with their individual futures together as a loving two-person family. The third-act events, however, seem a bit confusing, and one might start counting or replaying the days or weeks on one’s hand to piece together the timeline while “Horsegirls” strides towards the finish line.
Still, maybe the details are not that important, since the film properly centers its biggest moments with Sandy and Margarita, and that’s what ultimately matters.
Well, “Horsegirls” gallops with emotion at times, but it meanders too often throughout the cinematic race.
Jeff’s ranking
2 / 4 stars
A member of the Phoenix Critics Circle, Jeff Mitchell has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic. Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.
