ReelBob: ‘Promising Young Woman’ ★★★½

By Bob Bloom

Cassie does not live life — she walks through it.

A trauma has killed her soul and emotionally cut her off from everyone, including her parents.

All Cassie seems to want is revenge for her best friend and forgiveness for herself.

This is the crux of “Promising Young Woman,” a #MeToo-age thriller, featuring an astounding performance by Carrie Mulligan as Cassie.

Basically, Cassie is an avenging spirit who punishes men for their transgressions against women. She tortures and abuses them verbally, mentally and emotionally. Her goal is to make a man think twice about how he treats women and create a modicum of fear about the next woman that man meets.

Cassie was a promising medical-school student who quit after a traumatic incident involving her best friend, Nina, a fellow student. We never explicitly learn Nina’s fate, but suicide is hinted.

Since that time, Cassie has been going through the motions of life. At 30, she has closed herself off, working at a coffee shop and still living at home with her parents.

She lives a double life, dolling herself up and going out at night to clubs and bars. Her schtick is to act drunk, to see whether some random guy will try to pick her up and attempt to take advantage of her. It’s then that she strikes.

Mulligan gives a chameleon-like performance, changing her appearance when she goes out so as to entice men. She is quick to switch from semi-helpless drunk who slurs her speech and stumbles when she walks, to a menacing woman who usually scares the bejesus out of any man unlucky enough to fall for her ruse.

The premise of writer-director Emerald Fennell, showrunner for the hit series “Killing Eve,” is that it’s a man’s world and, despite society being more “woke,” the old-boy network remains solidly engrained even in younger men.

Even a woman dean, played by Connie Britton, at the school Cassie and Nina attended, admits favoritism toward the male students.

“Promising Young Woman” keeps you on edge as it slowly unveils Cassie’s campaign to avenge Nina. It’s how she goes about it that makes you — at times — uncomfortable and very nervous because you are continually in the dark about Cassie’s schemes or how far she will go.

Mulligan quietly exudes an air of menace. You fear her and also fear for her.

The closest she comes to finding happiness is when she renews an acquaintance with Ryan (Bo Burnham), a former classmate — now a pediatrician — who shyly and slowly woos Cassie.

Beside the school dean, Cassie confronts the lawyer, played by Alfred Molina, who defended Nina’s accuser; Madison McPhee (Allison Brie), another classmate, who did not believe Nina; and Al Monroe (Chris Lowell), the incident’s main perpetrator.

“Promising Young Woman,” at 113 minutes, drags at times — especially in scenes involving Cassie’s well-meaning but confused parents, played by Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown. But it’s electric whenever Mulligan is on screen.

The film comes undone at its finale, falling back on a copout-to-convention ending that feels more like a balm to soothe audiences.

Because of Mulligan’s acting, you can forgive this minor impediment in an overall smart and ingenious feature.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
3½ stars out of 4
(R), sexual material, drug use, violence, language