Promising Young Woman - Review Thread

Did you think I was going to leave a 'No tits = F' review?

Promising Young Woman(2/6/2021)

Throughout the closure of theaters I’ve looked to a lot of different places to see the year’s movies: various streaming services, Netflix DVD delivery, cable broadcasts, various virtual cinema situations, etc. But one thing I have managed to avoid up to this point was “premium” Video On Demand, which is to say studios putting movies direct to VOD at insanely inflated prices on the logic that it’s a new release. I certainly never considered paying the $30 price tag that Disney was trying to get people to pay to see Mulan a couple of months before they started giving it away for free and I also refused to pay the “standard” $20 price tag that they’ve tried to affix to most Hollywood movies when they first emerge which strikes me as a rather obscene price to pay in order to virtually rent pretty much any movie under the sun. For that same price I can buy most blu-rays on first release, it’s more than double the matinee price to see something in theaters (when they’re open) in my area and for that matter it’s about what you’d pay for an entire month of AMC’s Stubs A-List program, which allows you to see numerous movies a month. Were this pricing to become “the norm” it would quickly become prohibitively expensive to see new releases and would likely dramatically affect the number of movies I watch in general. It’s something I adamantly refuse to pay. Except I finally did acquiesce to this highway robbery today in order to watch Emerald Fennell’s socially relevant thriller Promising Young Woman. I didn’t pay the ransom out of a particular excitement to see the movie, in fact there are quite a few movies I was far more excited for which I saw essentially for free from Netflix, but rather because time was kind of running out to see the last of the year’s big releases and I also suspected this would have some plot twists I didn’t want spoiled. But make no mistake I was not happy to be paying this and it kind of put a lot of pressure on the movie to deliver.

The film follows a thirty year old woman named Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) who dropped out of med school after a friend of hers, now deceased, was sexually assaulted by a bunch of other students while drunk largely without consequences. Now Thomas has opted to be something of a vigilante avenger by going to bars alone and pretending to be plastered to see which bro will try to take her home and take advantage of this perceived intoxication, at which point she reveals her sobriety and takes vengeance, sometimes violently sometimes not. One day she encounters an old med school acquaintance named Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham) who casually mentions that the ringleader of that assault is still around and is getting married soon, which sparks an instinct in her to finally get the revenge she’d been yearning for not just against him but against a handful of other accomplices and enablers involved in that shattering event.

Promising Young Woman was written and directed by Emerald Fennell and is her first film in those roles after a not overly distinctive acting career. Let’s start with that script which I found both clever and at times frustrating. The basic premise is of course… provocative. Going in I had kind of expected that the protagonist’s vigilantism would be a bit more murdery than it was, making the film something of a female equivalent to the 1974 film Death Wish, which is a movie I find somewhat repugnant. The actual film is a bit less clear about the extent of her actions, the opening scene seems to pretty strongly imply she kills her victims but for much of the rest of the film she seems to stop short of killing when exacting her revenge. That is probably preferable but there’s a degree of “have your cake and eat it too” to that solution. Ultimately it’s a movie less interested in the morality of revenge and more interested in looking at what kind of society would lead someone to these extremes and in using her revenge quest to explore and tackle various aspects of rape culture. That is a good idea in theory but I must say I felt like the movie was more than a little in on the nose in the way it connected this story to various debates that have been going on in the culture. For example, one of the first men she tries to pull one of her stings on expresses an attitude that because he isn’t a jock-bro that automatically makes him better than the other dude’s she deals with… and in case you haven’t already gotten the picture he rather pointedly calls himself a “nice guy” out loud multiple times in this exchange just so you know this is the chapter of the movie that’s meant to be tied to the Jezebel articles you’ve read about “nice guy” sexism.

From there the revenge quest takes Thomas on something of a tour of cultural hot points: slut-shaming friends, self-serving college administrators, sleazy lawyers, callous bystanders, each one of them more or less acting as a textbook example of the issues the film is trying to highlight. At times one wonders how they had the restraint not to bring up “mansplaining” while they were at it. In many ways the film feels less like a story rooted in a revenge fantasy and more like the revenge fantasy itself… to the point where I wouldn’t have been surprised if at a certain point the main character “snapped out of it” and revealed much of the plot to be a violent day dream rather than something that was literally happening, or perhaps that a certain American Psycho style ambiguity about what is or isn’t really would have emerged. In part that’s because I there are some pretty clear logistical questions left unanswered in the film (How does she pay for all of this? Why don’t her victims try to call and warn some of the other people on the list? How was the thing that happens at the end coordinated?) and on that level the film sort of falls short if looked at as a procedural of sorts.

Despite having said all that, I actually still quite liked this movie, in part because I think it’s made with panache and also because I think its genre provocations make up for its lack of subtlety. Emerald Fennell definitely shoots the film with a lot of confidence despite being a first time director and she assembles a pretty impressive ensemble for the film anchored by Carey Mulligan as the film’s star. The film also has a pretty bold if slightly implausible ending which really ends the movie with something of a bang, which I appreciated. The movie was certainly never boring and as annoyed as I was in the directness with which it addresses these issues, that might kind of be my own fault for reading as many damn think pieces as I do and to certain audiences that don’t spend their days reading about these debates on twitter this will all probably a bit more revelatory and thought provoking. Even when it’s being on-the-nose it still clearly has quite the dark wit and the moments in it that work do tend to work very well.

***1/2 out of Five

That Promising Young Woman has proven to be arguably the most controversial movie of 2020 is not exactly surprising. Emerald Fennell's directorial debut feels a knowing provocation, one all the more incendiary because it doesn't fit cleanly into any one ideology. It's hard to really get into the weeds without getting into the ending and enough people still haven't seen this that I don't really want to dive into spoilers. I will say, I get why people might hate the ending. More than just pulling the rug out from the audience, the final moments, when read sincerely land with a certain hollowness. I know I wasn't quite sure how to feel as we cut to black, but as the credits rolled on, I started to think that maybe that was the point. That upon reflection, the ending doesn't really hold up, and is meant to leave you angrier and more critical. Then again, maybe I'm giving the film more credit than it really deserves. I'm not totally sure.

What I am sure of is that, as a piece of filmmaking, I quite enjoyed Promising Young Woman. Fennell directs with a ton of confidence, crafting a candy-coloured movie that can be quite fun to watch yet still simmering with a focused anger. That the movie is a scathing indictment of rape culture is not likely to be missed by anyone; the film has all the subtlety of an atomic blast, but the genre trappings and tone ultimately lend themselves well to this kind of overt messaging, especially when it's delivered so skillfully. Performances across the board are quite strong, with Carey Mulligan delivering a mutli-faceted performance while still coming off as a fully believable person. More than just the quality of the acting though, this movie is just really well-cast. Basically every one here feels pitch-perfect for what they're asked to do and peeling back their layers is really rewarding. This movie also has an incredibly well-assembled soundtrack. The ironic twisting of pop music has rightfully received a lot of attention, but for me, it was a certain needle-drop from The Night of the Hunter that really took my breath away.

To some extent, I do feel like the movie sits in a bit of an awkward spot where it's too much of a breezy genre movie to really reckon fully with the very real pain it explores, yet also far too open about that pain to be unhinged genre fare. To give an example of what I mean, the set-up to this movie very much suggests a variation on the rape revenge movie, especially with Cassie pretending to act too drunk to stand in order to ensnare potential rapists. Yet most of Cassie's revenge doesn't really go much further than a scary talking too. It feels like a bit of a "have your cake and eat it too" situation, a desire to satisfy a honest rage without actually getting the movie's hands dirty. Then again, maybe the movie actually really deftly balances these elements and a rewatch will only illustrate how impressive that balancing act is. Again, I'm not really sure. What I do know is this movie gave me a lot to chew on while also being really entertaining, well-crafted, and with great performances. It's certainly not a perfect movie, but Promising Young Woman is one of 2020's must-see films, one that I suspect will rank highly when I look back on the year's best.

A-

PG Cooper

variety.com/2021/film/news/promising-young-woman-free-screening-college-students-1234949472/

‘Promising Young Woman’ to Offer Free Screenings for College Students

Promising Young Woman,” the dark comedy starring Carey Mulligan, will be offered for free to college students.

Focus Features, the film’s backer, has partnered with RAINN, the country’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, to host virtual screenings of the film on April 15. Following the showing, Laverne Cox will moderate a conversation with her co-star Mulligan and Emerald Fennell, who wrote and directed the film.

By bringing the film to students, both Focus and RAINN hope to continue the conversation against sexual assault and violence on college campuses. Statistically, 13% of all students experience sexual assault or rape during their time at school, according to a press release.


“Promising Young Woman” centers on Cassie (Mulligan), a medical school dropout who avenges the death of her best friend, who was raped. The movie, which originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture.

“Sexual violence can affect not only the survivor, but the people and communities around them,” said Heather Drevna, RAINN’s vice president of communications. “‘Promising Young Woman’ has sparked important conversations about the cultural response to sexual assault, healing, justice and bystander accountability. We thank Focus Features for making ‘Promising Young Woman’ available to college students, who are at increased risk of sexual violence, to continue this critical dialogue.”