Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell – 2020) A-

This was by and large not what I expected. Not exactly sure what I expected either…a revenge thriller maybe? It is not that per se even if it has lots of the genre’s building blocks. Carey Mulligan is excellent as Cassandra, an ex-medical school student who now works at a coffee shop, lives with her parents and pretends to be drunk in bars so that she can “trap” men who might want to take advantage of her. Her best friend was assaulted in said medical school, the perpetrators were not punished and now Cassandra is on a spiraling path to nowhere. Things change when she meets a nice guy (Bo Burnham) from her past and a couple of things he mentions set her off on a new path. The system really failed Cassandra and her friend from school administrators to the legal system. We do side with her even though some of her actions are quiet horrible as well. The way it all ends is shocking to say the least and I get it might not work for everyone. I don’t think it should. Imperfect as this film is, it worked for me and kept me thinking about it long after its run time.

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