Film: “Promising Young Woman” starring Carrie Mulligan
I’ve always loved Carrie Mulligan. I loved her in “An Education,” I loved her on Broadway, and I even loved her in “Promising Young Woman,” an above-average, far-fetched, revenge-fantasy flick that is certain to make laxbros squirm right down to their jacked guns and chiseled eight-packs.
Mulligan plays Cassie, a barista who dropped out of med school due to an “incident” that befell her best friend and fellow student Nina. The incident was Nina’s gang rape at a frat house after which the chief perpetrator got off scot-free. (The claim was basically that “it was just a party” and “we were just kids”. And oh, it was really her fault.) Nina was never the same afterwards and subsequently died, presumably a suicide. Cassie intends to avenge her friend’s rape by pretending to be drunk in bars, attracting men and going home with them, quickly humiliating them, and keeping a paper score card of the incident (kept wondering, doesn’t she have the Evernote app?)
Complications begin when a former med school classmate (Bo Burnham), who seems genuine, begins courting her. Despite this, Cassie is determined to press forward with her “mission,” which leads to an ending that is at once chilling but ultimately gratifying.
Still need a point of reference? Okay, think of it as a mashup of “Hand that Rocked the Cradle,” “The Accused,” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” Certainly not perfect, and no Jean Renoir classic, but entertaining enough. And then, as I mentioned, there is Carrie Mulligan.