Promising Young Woman Movie Review
Nathan Swank
January 19th, 2021
There is something strangely bright and cheerful about this very dark and disturbing… Drama? Horror? Comedy? Well, it’s a revenge thriller at heart. But PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN has all these wonderful layers that overlap so many incredible genres.
Writer and director Emerald Fennell crafts a wickedly perfect, on point and thoroughly entertaining movie about male’s privileged predatory acts towards women without consequences. Without consequences as long as you don’t run into Cassandra. Carey Mulligan plays Cassandra, a young woman who has made it her mission to appear drunk at bars in order to catch date raping predators. Yes, this is a heavy topic. But an important one to discuss.
Still living at home with her supportive parents (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown), Cassandra has clearly channeled a past trauma, giving up any career aspirations, in order to hopefully stop predatory males, along with any male or females who enable the actions. This isn’t a typical revenge murder from slasher type horror films we’ve seen in the past. The villains aren’t always some over-the-top rapists who we can agree are despicable human beings. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN has a grounding in reality that is far more frightening because of the eye-opening and self reflection of anyone and everyone possibly being a “bad guy.” Giving excuses that people are under the influence, is not acceptable.
Cleverly casting comedians or comedic actors in most of the male roles, the audience is disarmed on how treacherous males can be when picking up women. This is another factor to slyly passing off a very serious issue in ironically entertaining fashion. It’s not until Cassandra, while working at the coffee shop, meets nice guy Ryan (Bo Burnham), a past friend from medical school, is she finally faced with the realization that her purpose may have formed into an unhealthy obsession. Delivering an award worthy performance, Mulligan is absolutely perfect as Cassandra and the humor eases the truthful tension that lies just beneath the surface.
Screenplay, performances, costuming, soundtrack, and art direction, I love everything about this movie. Somehow walking the line of horror, drama, and comedy, filmmaker Emerald Fennell delivers a brutally honest glimpse into the horrific challenges women face that I hope is not lost on the viewer. Carey Mulligan is a revelation as a broken, traumatized young woman seeking vengeance to anyone who might seek to take advantage of her. Smart, funny, and disturbing while delivering a strong message of be better or beware, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is near perfection and worth a conversation.
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