Girls Like Girls (film)

In summer 2006, 17-year-old introvert Coley has moved to Oregon from San Diego. One day, she stops at a restaurant to take a reprieve from the heat, when a group of teenagers heckle her. She makes eye contact with one of the girls, who apologizes for the behavior of her friends and introduces herself as Sonya. Coley is invited to sit at their table, and meets Alex, Goose, SJ, Brooke, and Sonya's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Trenton. Upon leaving the restaurant, Sonya invites Coley to join them to go swimming at a local lake. Coley meets the group there, and Trenton picks her up and throws her into the water against her will. She bikes away in tears, but Sonya catches her and apologizes for his actions. She gives Coley her AIM ID and makes her promise to send a message that night.

Coley, unsure how to make the first move, does not end up sending Sonya a message. However, Sonya arrives at Coley's the next day, inviting her to hang out. The two shoplift alcohol and snacks from a convenience store when a clerk, Blake, motions that she will not rat them out. At Sonya's house, the two get drunk and learn more about each other, including that Sonya is a trained competitive dancer. She performs for Coley in her bedroom at Coley's request, injuring her arm against a window as she loses focus. Coley then offers to dance for her, but shortly into it, Sonya begins to gag and vomits in the bathroom, citing the alcohol. She apologizes and Coley goes home.

Sonya endeavors to hang out again. The two spend the next several weeks together, becoming inseparable friends. One evening, after walking by some railroad tracks, they lie in the grass where Coley tearfully reveals that her mother died and she has moved in with her father, who had abandoned them as a child. Sonya consoles her and they caress one another, leading to the two passionately kissing. When they wake up some time later, Sonya rushes away with the promise that she will message Coley as usual.

Sonya starts avoiding Coley and not messaging her. At a party at Brooke's house, Coley learns that Sonya is leaving for a ten-week dance camp. Coley confronts Sonya, which leads to the two nearly having sex in Brooke’s bedroom before Trenton and Brooke interrupt. Coley leaves, and when Trenton tries to have sex with Sonya, she tearfully declines. Coley, seeing Sonya and Trenton, kisses Alex, but breaks off the kiss because of her conflicting feelings. Coley storms away from the party after Alex apologizes for the death of her mother, which she had told Sonya in confidence.

Coley goes to Sonya's before she departs for camp, despite not hearing from her. Coley interrupts her hanging out with her friends, claiming to want her mother's jacket that she had lent Sonya. In Sonya's room, Coley initially takes the jacket and leaves before locking them both in the room demanding to know what their connection means to Sonya. When Sonya declares that she treats all her friends like she does Coley, Coley flees, heartbroken.

Despondent, Coley grows more detached from her father. After returning to the convenience store, Blake invites Coley to hang out. The two get high and have sex. Coley, disgusted with herself, returns home bawling.

Coley's father consoles her while she feels broken and unwanted, assuring her that her mother's death – hinted to be suicide – was not her fault. He encourages her to see the good in herself, and she begins to heal; Coley gets a job as a waitress and spends time connecting with her dad. At the end of the summer, Sonya and her family come to the restaurant for Sonya's sister's birthday. Sonya reacts warmly to seeing Coley, but she does not reciprocate. Sonya asks Coley to talk after her shift. In Sonya's car, she admits their bond is something greater than friendship but that it feels wrong to love her romantically as she does. Coley is offended, feeling like she is merely being used as a means for Sonya to figure her own life out instead of as a meaningful connection, and storms away.

Later, Coley ends up at the river when Sonya and her friends also arrive. The two make eye contact but do not interact. As Coley leaves, SJ invites her to a pool party, saying Sonya has been acting differently since their falling out. SJ also apologizes to Coley about her mother's death becoming widely known, and explains that Sonya was looking for advice on how to support Coley's grief when Trenton overheard, and spread the story. Coley tentatively accepts the invitation. At the party, she overhears Sonya breaking up with Trenton. A few minutes later, she approaches Sonya at the pool. Sonya tells Coley that all she does is run. Coley tells her that she could stop running. Sonya agrees, and rests her head on Coley's shoulder.

In a post-credits scene, Coley returns home from the pool party when Sonya runs after her. They passionately embrace and kiss in the street. Sonya makes Coley promise to message her, reminding her that she knows where she lives and will track her down. Coley smiles and tells Sonya she is counting on it.

• Maya da Costa as Coley
• Myra Molloy as Sonya
• Levon Hawke as Trenton
• Zach Braff as Curtis

On May 30, 2023, Kiyoko released her first novel, Girls Like Girls, an adaptation of her 2015 single "Girls Like Girls"; she also co-directed the music video with Austin S. Winchell.^[4] In May 2022, she discussed a desire to turn the story of the song into a feature-length film.^[5] The film adaptation is written by Kiyoko and Stefanie Scott. It is produced by Focus Features.^[6] The cast is led by Myra Molloy and Maya da Costa.^[7]

Principal photography took place in Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada from July 3, 2024, to August 2, 2024,^[8][9] with Sonja Tsypin as the cinematographer.^[10]

Jessica Rose Weiss composed the score for the film.^[11] Christine Armstrong and Sabine Hoffman edited the film.^[12]

Girls Like Girls premiered at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA on June 9, 2026.^[13] It then premiered at the Universal Cinema AMC in Universal City, California on June 15.^[14] It was then screened at the Frameline Film Festival on June 18,^[15][16] being releasing in the United States the following day.^[17] In December 2024, it was announced that Focus Features had acquired worldwide rights to the film.^[18]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 56 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Bracingly personal and finely acted, Hayley Kiyoko's Girls Like Girls is a gently moving tale of queer love that's elevated by striking visual flair."^[19]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[20]

Alison Foreman of IndieWire gave the film a B- and wrote, "If Girls Like Girls gives a queer cinephiles an excuse to kiss at the movies in 2026, then Coley and Sonya may have finally accomplished what they set out to do."^[21]