Promising Young Woman (2020)

The tag line for this movie is "Revenge Never Looked So Promising." But a more accurate tag would be: "Revenge Never Looked So Halfhearted."

Fennell's attempt at dark humour and social commentary falls flat at just about every turn. The screenplay is underdeveloped and loaded with plot holes (many of them defying all sense of logic); the characters are mostly stereotypes; the first shocking is twist all-too predictable; the direction is derivative of far more talented filmmakers and sluggish as well; and the second shocking twist in the denouement is both laughable and insulting at once.

I suspect the inspiration for this wildly uneven film came from three different sources. . .one from real life, the other two from fiction: Christine Blasey Ford's courageous testimony before the Senate Confirmation Committee, and the motion pictures "Elle" (a searing dramatic thriller about a rape victim bent on revenge) and "The Girl Most Likely To..." (a wickedly delicious dark comedy about a homely college girl who exacts revenge on her tormenters after reconstructive surgery turns her into a gorgeous bombshell).

The problem is, "Promising Young Woman" lacks the devastating poignancy of Dr. Ford's testimony, the simmering dark passion of "Elle", and the sheer joyful fortitude of "The Girl Most Likely To..." And so, in the final tally, it fails to deliver on all that promise.

It's worth noting that despite the film's many shortcomings, Carey Mulligan, Alison Brie, and Connie Britton all manage to deliver exceptional performances. Sadly, I will never get to see these performances again, because as good as they are, none warrant a repeat viewing of this disappointing misfire.

Fmovies: I watched a lot of films in 2020 (167 to be exact) and gave only one of them a perfect 10/10 score. It took exactly one film in 2021 to match that. A sign of good things ahead hopefully. 'Promising Young Woman' is one of those rare treats of a film where you simply don't want it to end. Every aspect of it is perfect. Here's the kicker though - I couldn't wait to find out who the writer/director was afterwards. To my astonishment it was a debut effort from Emerald Fennell. Incredible stuff.

Where to begin with this film? I think my single favourite thing about it was the dialogue. It was so exquisitely written (and performed for that matter). So many films lack any imagination in their dialogue these days, but not this film. It can be charming, charismatic, intriguing, thoughtful, funny and a hundred things in between. Also the music in this movie was perfect. I particularly loved the Toxic instrumental and the use of Angel of the Morning at the end. This is a soundtrack I would buy.

I was aware of Carey Mulligan before this film, but incredibly I had never seen a single one of her films or television shows. I was blown away by how talented she is. The range she shows in one single character in 'Promising Young Woman' is almost beyond belief. I'm not sure if this is the type of film the Academy would ever recognise a performance in, but they absolutely should.

I can't say enough goods things about this movie. It hits every note perfectly. 'Promising Young Woman' was an absolute pleasure to sit through and a film that you simply can't afford to miss.

This movie was okay but is it really worth 4 Oscar nods? That is all.

Promising Young Woman fmovies. I salute the effort to treat a topic too few movies are willing to tackle. But everything from the teasers to the promotion (imagery, posters, etc.) led me to believe the movie would push the concept a lot further than it did.. In the end I feel this would have made more of an impact if it had either gone a more serious/conservative and realistic route (some situations are quite implausible), OR the complete opposite, with someone being pushed over the edge and devolving into madness/violence a la Joker/John Wick. As it stands the movie is too middle of the road, not knowing what it wants to be, just like the main character and it left me unsatisfied.

It's a comedy, but not really.

It's a thriller, but not really.

There's a romantic element, but it's certainly not a romance film.

I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, except to say that this film crosses several genres, and that I thought it was very creative and interesting. It reminded me a little of 'A Simple Favor', except not quite so dark.

Carey Mulligan is superb. Bo Burnham is very funny. I wanted to punch nearly every other male character in the film.

Best thing about this movie is, it doesn't try to be clever or something it's not. Or maybe it's Carey Mulligan. Can't decide. It's a straight forward no nonsense revenge thriller that isn't like I spit on your grave or rather Hard Candy (which I expected it to be). It's just a very simple collective of 5 part story told cohesively and many people (on both ends and in middle) will find relatable.

Special mention to the father daughter scene.

Very well written, well shot, directed, scored and acted movie. And yes negative reviews are trying to sound clever but everyone knows they saw themselves in there.