Promising Young Woman Review

With nominations for Best Picture, Director, Actress, and Screenplay (among others), this had all the markings of A Promising Young Film, an opinion that was strengthened by the trailer. A fresh, insane premise, I sat down thoroughly expecting to enjoy myself. And I did! At least for the first half.

The film starts brutal and to the point; from the get-go, we know it's not going to pull punches and that whatever's coming ain't going to be pretty. I dare anyone to watch the opening dialogue and not cringe, the awareness of how realistic it is beautifully at odds with the dark humour. Then the audience's introduction to Cassie (the character, as opposed to the stereotype we see through the men's eyes) is superb. I was gasping and laughing out loud the moment she breaks the fourth wall and lets us in on her "secret", that she's only playing drunk.

As we see more of Cassie's world, we gain insight into her motivations but are also treated to some deliciously uncanny valley-like details: her parents' pink carpeted home, the picturebook coffee shop with the dream boss, the cartoonish naivety of her mother and father. I confess that at times I felt an almost Wes Anderson vibe in the sets and costumes.

(An aside here: was I the only one who thought the casting of Jennifer Coolidge as her mum intentional? An actress infamous for playing overly sexualised blonds, the typical "dumb bimbo", now appearing as a demure housewife and mother? Whether or not intentional on the filmmakers' part, I certainly enjoyed the meta aspect of the choice!)

However, as the story progresses, the film lost some of its shine. The love story felt forced from the start, making the twist emotionally predictable even though I didn't foresee the details, and the movie doesn't seem to know what it's aiming for the further along we get. Is it a dark comedy? A thriller? A revenge story? A political statement? By trying to be all of these at once, I feel it got lost and ended up not being any of them quite well enough.

If you're trying to tell a serious story, even through comedy, then you have to allow for shades of grey. Alternatively, if you want a world where right and wrong are clearcut, then you have to exaggerate the tone and take it into satire. Here we have neither so it all feels a little too on the nose by the time the credits role.

Now, despite my slight disappointment with the second half of the film, I have to give kudos to the team behind it. This is a refreshing viewpoint, if a tad off the mark. And Carey Mulligan, surprising no one, gives a great performance, with nuance and deadpan all intermingled. Perhaps not my choice to win any of the Oscars it's up for, but certainly worthy of the nominations.

Conclusion: Solid [what's this?]

Promising Young Woman came out in 2021.