Warning: The following review features minor spoilers for Promising Young Woman.
Of all the good it did, the #MeToo movement did an excellent job of exposing the backward and dangerous thinking that so many individuals took when presented with allegations of sexual misconduct. Even more importantly, we began to understand the devastating effects the dismissal of claims can have of those involved.
At its core, Promising Young Woman is an exploration of those feelings of desperation and rage that come with not being taken seriously in your darkest moments. Carey Mulligan stars as Cassi, a woman whose life took a sharp turn from her prospects as a medical professional after a friend of hers is the victim of sexual assault. After putting the school, the event, and its perpetrators in her past, she's taken up the noble cause of portraying herself as a woman well past drunk, only to turn things around once she's brought home by a "nice guy" that tries to take advantage of her. She seems content going on this way until Ryan, a former classmate, pops up and reopens the door to the trauma of her past. Using her budding relationship with Ryan as a springboard, Cassi devises a list of names and a plan to seek vengeance against all of them.
Playing a complicated and multi-faceted character like Cassi suits Carey Mulligan extremely well here. She is able to portray Cassi as a woman with conviction to right wrongs in one scene, and seamlessly flows into a romantic scene with Ryan in the next. The movie wouldn't have worked at all unless director Emerald Fennell got a great performer to play Cassi, and Mulligan did more than enough to fit the part.
Mulligan is surrounded by excellent support as well, as Allison Brie, Alfred Molina, Connie Britton and several others serve as excellent stepping stones to move the story along. The best performance from the support, however, comes from Bo Burnham, who was an off-the-beaten-path choice to play Ryan, but turns in big dividends. Burnham's had a few small movie roles in his career, but this could be a role that ends up getting him much more exposure. Flexing his muscles as one of the most unique comedians to rise from the past decade, Burnham makes Ryan feel sincere, no matter what mood his character is meant to portray.
In Burnham and several other casting decisions, Promising Young Woman messes with perceptions of actors in a very unique way. Similar to the anti-typecasting of Liam Neeson in Steve McQueen's Widows, there's rarely a character that shows up whose played by an actor you recognize that behaves in a way you'd expect them to. This is a really great device to employ in a revenge thriller, as the twisting plot drives Cassi further and further into the genius--or madness-- of her plans. There are some surprised throughout the movie that will definitely shock the audience, and through no small feat, the execution of these all make logical sense.
Promising Young Woman is part revenge thriller, part cautionary tale, part love story, part coming-of-age, and maybe even a few more parts, but Emerald Fennell is able to assemble them in near-perfect fashion. At two hours, the movie's paced perfectly, and each member of its well-assembled cast pushes the story forward, in fresh directions.
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