'Promising Young Woman' film review: Righteous #MeToo fury unleashed
One woman's war on toxic masculinity takes a personal turn in the darkly comedic thriller 'Promising Young Woman' (opening in theaters Dec. 25).
In short: Cassie (Carey Mulligan) is traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who cross her path. Laverne Cox and Bo Burnham also star.
"Fuck her" is the perfect opening line for this film's seething contempt for a "boys will be boys" culture that fosters the twisted notion that a woman can "ask for it" by being intoxicated or with their wardrobe choices. The totality of 'Promising' is a clear-voiced indictment of a toxic culture that too easily brushes aside allegations of sex crimes and dispels the myth that good young man couldn't possible take advantage of a girl ... and even if they did while in college, well, they were "just kids."
As far as opening sequences so, 'Promising' lures the audience into one dark scenario - and absolutely flips the table with an invigorating and shocking twist. Cassie appears to be the all-too-vulnerable prey surrounded by predatory, disgusting would-be date rapists. But just as the trap is sprung, it's clear who is really the predator and who was always the prey.
Without spoiling anything, Cassie has re-invented herself from a once-promising medical student into a vigilante of the night, targeting the heinous men who would single out women, unable to give consent for their intentions. If the movie was only this skin deep, then 'Promising' could have just been a cult thriller simply happy to invert the hunter-prey formula (along the lines of 'I Spit on Your Grave' or the excellent 2017 flick 'Revenge').
Writer-director Emerald Fennell's film explores how the specter of sexual violence can infect everything, and inflict damage long after the traumatic criminal act. Cassie's entire trajectory in life was completely changed after one violent sexual crime that occurred many years ago - and the film outright condemns the notion that trauma simply goes away given time. It's genuinely entertaining to watch Cassie make her victims squirm as she makes them confront the abject objectification and minimalization of women - a mentality that makes victims insignificant and invisible.
From the outset, 'Promising' makes it clear that Cassie has been on the prowl, hunting predatory men, for a very long time - and she's very good at this dark endeavor. But the crusade has taken its toll on Cassie, in almost every way possible: professionally and socially. And its in this space - where guilt, obsession and rage all coalesce, that 'Promising' is strongest. Cassie is laser-focused on the personal mission that has overtaken her life.
The film is consistently more satisfying when its a character-driven study of grief and anger and a bit less interesting when it's just a plot-driven mission of personal revenge. Cassie is really forced to examine the cost of her mission after she unexpectedly realizes what's missing in her life, and how her crusade has transformed her. But the underlying plot of 'Promising' has Cassie getting a chance to right the wrongs of the past. This throughline is less satisfying and actually pushes the film into revenge fantasy territory.
While it's cathartic to watch Cassie stick it to those who allowed a crime to go unpunished, it also infuses the film with a false and misplaced sense of wish fulfillment. Revenge fantasies are revisionist fictions that satisfy the wish to see justice executed, but without the baggage of needing to frame the fantasy in reality. Alison Brie, Connie Britton and Max Greenfield all play avatars standing in for real-life parts of an institution that systematically protects and enable sexual predators to just move on with their lives after devastating victims. It's fun to watch them get their comeuppance - but it feels like a hollow victory knowing these figures, in real life, often go unpunished and are almost never held culpable for their part in perpetuating sexual violence.
'Promising' desperately want to be an adorable, banter-filled sweet romance - intertwined with guilt-driven swath of vengeance. There are dark thrillers, dark comedies, comedic dramas, and thriller mysteries ... and this film tries to wear all those hats. With so many tones, 'Promising' never truly nails any one particular tone just right. The darkly comedic aspects are its strongest - but this tone is almost entirely dropped anytime Cassie looks inward. One particular scene in a pharmacy is so sugary saccharine that it feels truly out of place in the same film that actively confronts trauma that pushes victims to suicide.
Final verdict: 'Promising Young Woman' grabs the audience with its vigilante with a mission plot and a stellar lead performance, but has much more to say about the cost of sexual violence, consent and guilt.
Score: 4/5
'Promising Young Woman' opens in theaters Christmas Day. The black comedy thriller is rated R strong violence including sexual assault, language throughout, some sexual material and drug use and has a running time of 113 minutes.
