Promising Young Woman is a typically implausible thriller but with a pretty compelling performance from the lead, Carey Mulligan. It is written and directed by Emerald Fennell. Other notable cast members include Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Laverne Cox, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Mulligan plays Cassie Thomas, a seemingly harmless coffee shop server who likes to hit the club scene in the night. She pretends to be drunk, luring unsuspecting men to take her home. When these men believe they can have their way with her, she suddenly reveals that she is not quite as inebriated as she appears. She delivers a scathing, sarcastic lecture and leaves them quite unsettled. As the story unfolds, the audience finds that Cassie is paying some peculiar homage to a friend who had committed suicide after a sexual assault at a party where she had gotten too intoxicated to resist.
Cassie then meets a seemingly nice guy along the way and starts to let her guard and possibly give up this unconventional crusade. Of course, it’s not going to be that simple when the boyfriend’s past comes to light and intersects with Cassie’s plans for retribution on behalf of her friend.
This film touches on the tragically familiar circumstances of women being assaulted and not being dismissed when they actually try to report the assault. Ironically, Cassie’s solution is likely to put her in more danger if she targets some guy who is more than some drunken schlub who lacks a sense of chivalry.
By and large, I am onboard with the intended message Fennell is trying to convey concerning these kinds of assaults and how those in authority have failed to seek truth and justice. Unfortunately, the piece missing from the conversation is how people can lower the risk of being in these situations sometimes due to these claims of “victim blaming” or whatever. Fennell brings an important topic to the table but misses the opportunity to drive home another lesson that could be more helpful when it comes to preventing oneself of being at the mercy of privileged drunken miscreants with no sense of restraint or gallantry.
Mulligan is a compelling and interesting presence in this role. The rest of the cast was fine as well. I have come to enjoy seeing Clancy Brown pop up since the original Highlander is kind of a guilty pleasure, and he has quite a different vibe than the lumbering, completely ungallant Kurgan.
Jennifer Coolidge does fine, but I am less a fan.
The film, on the whole, is pretty good even there are some missed opportunities when it comes to the subject matter. I wish the ending was a little different so I could have more admiration for Cassie, and she can have a happier ending while still bringing justice to the cads who raped a woman. It’s a kind of a messy movie, but the reality of these situations is even messier and more tragic.
Fennell is by no means wrong in her desire to bring such men to the gallows figuratively, but I think she misses some pieces to the conversation, which is typical of how Hollywood tries to tackle these sunjects.
Even though the film is a bit overrated by the professional critics, it does deserve much of the praise.
