Promising Young Woman

"That is just asking for it." This is one of the lines from the creepy predators featured throughout this film; this particular one comes right at the beginning. The predators are a few guys hanging out at a club, venting about work and on the lookout for a hookup. Soon, they see a woman who has had too much to drink. They start to express concern; they want to make sure the really drunk woman at the club is alright, but this is all part of the strategy. It's a slightly more woke, slightly more polite version of the type of sexual predator we've come to know in pop culture, both in front of the camera and behind it. These guys will make sure the woman is okay, but also okay enough to go to bed with him. "Gosh, you're so pretty," they'll say, to really drive home their courteous, falsely deferential persona. It's like they're a feminist version of a rapist, and the ultimate villain in this tale is the attitude that boys will be boys. 

2017 was the year of MeToo, but 2020 was the year of MeToo cinema. Three years after the beginning of the movement, which would bring about the downfall of Harvey Weinstein, John Lasseter, R. Kelly, Dustin Hoffman, and so many others, notable films like The Assistant, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, and The Invisible Man have tackled the subject. None of those films have been quite as forceful as Promising Young Woman, the new film written and directed by Emerald Fennell, her full-length feature film debut. (She has acted in films like The Danish Girl and the Netflix show The Crown and has a cameo in this film.) One of the reasons why Promising Young Woman is important is because the inexcusable behavior of men is not always so obvious (at least to other men, that is). For example, after Weinstein's accusers finally got the attention of the world, many men surely felt relief that they themselves had never behaved like Weinstein. It wasn't until the behavior of other celebrities (like Aziz Ansari and James Franco) became known that the male population as a whole probably sat themselves down to have a self-reflection session. 

Cassie Thomas is surrounded by guys like these. She also has had to deal a lot with toxic femininity in her life, as some women in her past and present have engaged in subtle slut shaming and victim blaming. Cassie is played by Carey Mulligan in probably her best performance so far. Despite the film's title, Cassie dropped out of medical school and serves coffee at a local shop while living with her parents. But by night, she goes out to clubs, where her mission has a profound sense of purpose to end predatory behavior, as she goes from club to bar and puts on an act of being completely intoxicated, luring in seedy men before she can rain verbal justice on them.

Why is she doing this? It's best to leave that unwritten. Fennell doesn't reveal Cassie's reasons for a while, and even then only gradually. But part of Cassie's odyssey is hindered when she starts to fall for an old college classmate from medical school named Ryan (Bo Burnham), a seemingly sweet guy who is now a doctor. Cassie can't help but fall for him, and the two of them lip syncing in a pharmacy to Paris Hilton is the most joyous moment in a film that for the rest of its runtime is quite dark. Burnham, the comic who rose to fame in the early days of YouTube and who also wrote and directed Eighth Grade, provides the most complex acting of his career. Mulligan and Burnham are also supported by a great cast that includes Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Connie Britton, Sam Richardson, Max Greenfield, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Molly Shannon, and Alfred Molina. 

The color palate used in this film, with Rae Deslich's set decoration, Nancy Steiner's costume design, and Benjamin Kracun's cinematography, is exceptional and makes the film feel like a less disgusting version of Birds of Prey. And aside from the technical aspects and Mulligan's acting, Fennell's writing and directing is the best part about Promising Young Woman. Her script features a lot of admirable strategic patience, only giving a few pieces of information at its own pace. 

It's not perfect, though. For example, there are two major twists in the film. One takes place at the conclusion of the prologue, and the other basically starts the final act of the film. The first one is unexpected, and will start the journey of making things a little clearer. The second twist, while important, is also kind of predictable. Additionally, this is a black comedy, but some of the humor is unfunny at best and overly morbid at worst. There are other problematic moments as well. It seems like Cassie is able to get away with some of her actions (like smashing up a car with a tire iron) probably because she's a white woman.

That being said, Promising Young Woman certainly is a clever, more modern and sophisticated revenge flick than what we're used to seeing from Hollywood, and we should all greatly look forward to Fennell's next work.