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Promising Young Woman (2020) Review

The bleakest movie of the year is awash in pastel pink

  • Lindsay Traves Lindsay Traves
  • December 14, 2020
  • 3 Minute Read
Promising Young Woman (2020) Review 5
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Score: 9 / 10

Promising Young Woman opens with a slow-motion montage of men dancing. They’re drunk, grinding ass up, shown crotch first, and they’re spilling their bar rail drinks. Immediately, the movie telling us it’s going to be subversive. But try as it might, some of the attempted subversion purposefully fails here, because in these moments, none of these dancing men are being criticized and none of them appear to be in any danger.

Cassie (Carey Mulligan) is just a girl living in her world. She pulls shifts at the indie coffee shop, loves a long blonde braid, and spends her Saturday evenings hunting men. No, she doesn’t kill them. Cassie dresses herself up as their prey, a drunk and vulnerable woman, and waits for them to pounce. Just when things get too far, Cassie reveals herself to be sober, scaring the pants back on them. A dangerous game, she throws herself into the lion’s den not just for revenge, but out of a sense of duty to do right by her friend who fell victim to a horrible assault.

Final Thoughts:

Promising Young Woman is not only beautiful, fun, and never boring, it tells an important story that kicks everything movies told us about sex and its relationship with violence in the teeth. It’s the most fun you’ll have while shivering with angst.
Lindsay Traves

Lindsay Traves

After submitting her Bachelor's thesis, “The Metaphysics of Schwarzenegger Movies,” Lindsay decided to focus on writing about her passions; sci-fi, horror, sports, and comic books. She covers movies and games for CGMagazine and you can follow her work on Twitter @smashtraves.
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Promising Young Woman (2020) Review 7

Promising Young Woman

Director(s): Emerald Fennell
Cast: Adam Brody, Ray Nicholson, Sam Richardson, Carey Mulligan
Running Time: 113 min

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