IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT // A FILM REVIEW OF "PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN"
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is a female empowering vigilante movie that seems perfectly released for the times we live in. Carey Mulligan is Cassie, a young woman who we first meet as she is (seemingly) dead drunk at a club. She's barely able to hold herself up, leaning against the back of a couch. Three co-workers at the bar spot her and two of them begin to comment on her disgustingly. The third friend seems to be genuinely embarrassed by their behavior and offers to go help her out. He calls them both an Uber, telling her that he was headed home anyway. In the Uber, he decides they should stop at his place for a nightcap first. He basically carries her into his apartment and makes her a drink, then lays her on his bed, begging her not to fall asleep before they can have some fun. Then suddenly, Cassie sits straight up. "Hey, what are you doing?" His eyes widen with confusion and fear. She's very much sober and very much unhappy.
Cassie has been doing this for a while: writing wrongs and setting up men who are attempting to take intoxicated women home and rape them. She's incredibly smart and savvy, a young woman who's dropped out of med school in her final year and now lives with her supportive but bewildered parents (Jennifer Coolidge, Clancy Brown). Something that happened to her triggered her dropout and her new revenge missions, something that we slowly learn about as the film progresses. She works at a local coffee shop alongside her friend and boss Gail (Laverne Cox). She has the same view of men, no matter who they are, and those who claim that they're one of the "nice ones" are usually the worst. Her armor starts to slowly (very slowly) chip away when a former classmate Ryan (Bo Burnham) comes into her coffee shop, first embarrassing himself in front of her and then asking her out on a date. She says no, but he comes back and starts to show that perhaps he isn't one of the bad ones. His sense of humor is as dark as hers and as long as he doesn't know about her nighttime gig, perhaps this might be someone to bring some sort of light into her life. First though, there's a few people who need to pay. People that played a part in the dark past that has inspired Cassie's new life.
Each time we think we know what's in store, the film shifts and twists, adding surprise after surprise. Writer/Director Emerald Fennell has crafted a fantastically clever thriller with pitchblack humor. She's also cast the men perfectly, with the slimiest of them played by comedic actors known for playing the "good guy." Carey Mulligan is phenomenal as Cassie, sublime, brutally hilarious and magnificently gripping in a powerhouse of a performance. There's darkness and pain behind every smile and as we root for her, we also fear that her own humanity is slipping farther and farther away. The supporting cast all add wonderful layers to the film and sometimes shocks us into silence. There will be plenty to talk about and discuss after the closing credits, and you should be having lots of conversations. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is a non-compromising feature debut for Fennell and a devastatingly great film.
GRADE: A
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Emerald Fennell STARRING Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Laverne Cox, Alison Brie, Alfred Molina, Connie Britton, Chris Lowell, Adam Brody, Max Greenfield, Molly Shannon, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATRES (WHERE THEATRES ARE OPEN). FOR MORE INFO: https://www.focusfeatures.com/promising-young-woman