Review of Promising Young Woman (2020) by Kenr — 07 Nov 2021

Promising Young Woman – Promises, but does She Deliver.

While this pic may get slightly better as it progresses, it also comes across as a manipulative ‘gotcha’ moment, somewhat concocted for the me-too movement. While that may not be all a bad thing, writer/director Emerald Fennell can get away with a lot of emotional leading, and she takes every advantage of doing so - as far as its Awards go, its PC credentials go before it. The script wavers between coy and highly crass, lurching uncomfortably between several genres. Fennell’s ‘lesson’ may be well-intended but her methods are often too grotty (and odd) to keep some of her audience on side.

Her main character, Cassandra (Mulligan) repeatedly puts herself in seriously dangerous situations to lure a variety of opportunistic men to pick her up - while she appears alone & smashed-paralytic at various sleazy bars. Not a smart way to supposedly ‘teach’ men a lesson. She also goes on to place other women in desperate situations to ‘teach’ them a lesson (another risky business) But, it’s when she poses as a stripper at a raucous buck’s party that she crosses the line - definitely placing herself in a foolishly dangerous situation. It all looks good, with most performances being fine and perhaps with a script that might have offered a broader appeal, this may have been accessible to a larger audience – instead, it aims mainly to the juvenile ’R’ rated trendy set. Prismark 10’s posted review (on IMDb in March ’21) sums it all up perfectly.