Promising Young Woman (2020)

Jack and I loved this terrific movie, about a #MeToo vigilante, that the New York Times called a "hard candy with a sour center." It's surprisingly funny at times. Carey Mulligan, as Cassie, brilliantly heads the cast, which includes Laverne Cox as her boss. Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, and Chris Lowell (the latter towards the end) are former classmates, and Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown are her parents. One reviewer commented that the word "rape" is never uttered and that the potential or actual rapists are played by actors known better as affable comedy stars.

Emerald Fennell makes a stunning directing and writing debut in the gradually unfolding plot. The title was apparently inspired by the fact that Brock Turner, the Stanford student who was convicted of sexual assault in 2016, was called a "promising young man." Until reading that, I thought it had to do with Cassie's taking a different life path than what was expected of her. Margot Robbie and Mulligan are among the producers, but Robbie doesn't appear on screen.

As I write I'm streaming the score by Anthony Willis, available by subscription on Apple Music and Spotfy. The songs play an important role, too. Fennell sent a playlist to Mulligan before shooting, and it featured Toxic by Britney Spears, a favorite of Fennell's. Soundtracks with the songs are also on Apple Music and Spotify, but these playlists inexplicably don't include Spears' tune, so you can listen to it, again on Apple Music and Spotify.

I must mention the colorful cinematography, including wide screen centered shots, by Benjamin Kracun, as well as Cassie's great Barbie-doll hair, styled by Bryson Conley and Daniel Curet.

Mulligan was last blogged for Wildlife, Cox for Grandma, Brie for Happiest Season, and Lowell for The Help after 26 episodes of GLOW (among other roles). Coolidge and Brown have worked a lot since they were profiled in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans and Cowboys & Aliens, respectively.

Burnham was in these pages for directing and writing Eighth Grade, but didn't act in it. Fennell wrote six episodes of Killing Eve and was one of the show runners, but many of you have seen her acting in The Crown as Camilla Parker Bowles, as well as other roles (I have not seen Call the Midwife). She has a cameo here as "Host of BxxxJxxx Lips Make-up Video Tutorial." SEE NOTE BELOW*

Willis, Kracun, and Conley are new to me. Curet was nominated for two Emmys for the wonderful series Pushing Daisies, in which Anna Friel had a similar haircut.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are making good on their promises, averaging 91 and 88%. We rented this on January 15, and it's available, for a fee, on several platforms.

*NOTE: I substituted BxxxJxxx for the actual oral sxx word because Blogger put a warning on this post that it contains adult content, requiring readers to agree before proceeding to the post. Weird, since it came out two and a half years ago and most of the readers clicked on it when it was new.