Promising Young Woman - Movie Review

Hey guys, it's Madison LaFontaine here from The Film Magic and today I'm going to be taking a look at the 2020 film Promising Young Woman, directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Carey Mulligan. So first things first, let me just start out by saying I absolutely love this film. I watched it like three times in the span of two days. It's honestly definitely sitting at my top five favorite films of all time, which sounds big. Just to kind of put it out there, this film made me very angry as I assume it made a lot of women. You definitely can tell it was not directed by a man just by how men are portrayed in this film, which is actually very similar to how men are in real life. Specifically, some of the comments made by men in this film are some things men say on a daily basis that women are kind of like, that's not okay to say, you know. And when you kind of sit there and you watch it happening in a film, it kind of makes you more aware like, wow, that is not cool to say. And I hear that all the time from men. So FYI, this film did make me a little angry. But there is just so much irony in this film, so much real world things that happen every day that are portrayed in this film. And it's not only the men that are bad in this film, there are ignorant women. Basically, to give you guys a little description of the film, just so you guys know what I'm talking about, obviously excluding any spoilers, it's basically about a girl named Cassandra who went to med school with her best friend Nina. Basically, in med school, Nina happened to experience a tragic rape, and no one believed her, and she ended up killing herself. So yeah, pretty traumatic. So basically, this story is kind of more of like a revenge story on men, in a way. But it's definitely not what you think it is going to be. And might I just add, the trailer is very deceiving. Anyone I've spoken to about the film has said like, oh, it's nothing like I thought it was going to be from like watching the trailer. It's nothing how I thought it was going to be from watching the trailer. So again, if you have taken a look at the trailer, and it doesn't seem like your type of film from the trailer, trust me, it is not what you think it is. Back to more of the irony I noticed in the film. I noticed that the nice guy that is always portrayed in the film isn't always the nice guy. If that makes sense. You'll kind of know more when you take a look at the film. But the film had so many, so many things about it. It has a great plot twist. Particularly, I don't know if I really loved, loved, loved the ending. There was parts of the ending that I kind of thought were unnecessary. Obviously, I'm not going to spoil anything. But I feel like you guys will know what I mean when you go and take a look at the film. There were parts of the ending that were just like very unnecessary. But overall, I feel like with most films, the ending could have been a bit better. But other than that, there was just so many like, honestly, when I finished watching this film, I said, I started clapping. I just loved it. Maybe me being a woman, it had me take a different outlook on it. And I would honestly love to see a man's view on this particular, particular film, because it very, it is very empowering to women, which, you know, can never get enough of these days. But yeah, there's so many this, this film, I would call a real eye opener. When you watch this film, the little comments that people make, specifically men, but also there are some comments that women make, it really makes you, you know, like, wow, people say that in real life all the time. And now that I'm sitting and watching it on a screen, that's not right. You know what I mean? So it is a, it is an eye opener, at least it was for me. And I assume it would be for anyone else who decides to watch the film. Another thing I also noticed is Carrie's character, Cassie, she dresses very adolescent, she almost dresses like a teenager. I don't know if I'm the only one who kind of picked this out. But I know there's one scene where it's like zooming in on her back, and you see her hair tied up in a bow. And I'm like, no, wait, that can't be her. And then you see her and it's like this 30 year old woman and you're like confused. So I don't really understand that. I think maybe it has to do with just like embodying the young girl in her, you know what I mean? That young girl that she was in med school seven years ago before everything happened, or if it has to do more with like, you know, sometimes young, like young girls being predatorized by men. I don't really fully understand that. But I did notice how her character dresses very, I don't want to say young, but she dresses very young. She dresses like, like a child. But like, you know what I mean? Like, you know, if you really take a look, and you analyze all the outfits she wears all the dresses she wears, there's one where she's wearing a mini t shirt. And it looks like a t shirt, like a 14 year old where you kind of really noticed that. So that's something I really picked up on. Now kind of just criticizing Cassie's character. I think Carrie did an amazing job with this character. She really embodied the bitterness of the character, but also managed it with that sweet side. And in films like this, where you're kind of acting within acting, if you watch the film, you'll know what I mean. I think she did a fantastic job. And I honestly, like I have really no complaints about her performance. She was she was fantastic. I loved it. I have no like, bad things to say about her performance. I loved her character. Her character had real depth to her, I must say the film is quite depressing. Particularly one scene towards the end, obviously not going to spoil because I don't want to spoil anything for you guys. But one scene towards the end was extremely depressing. It was like, um, a longer scene that I felt like did not have to be that long. And it, it almost made you watch feel very uncomfortable because it was dragging on so long. And you were like, when is this gonna end? You know what I mean? But other than that, um, I really have no complaints about this film. This film was, was great. It meant I'm speechless, like, because I really, really enjoyed this film. There's so many things. It really is making people aware. Emerald Fennell, like no one else could have directed this like this was this was meant to be directed by a woman. And Emerald Fennell did a phenomenal job even with some of the shots and stuff. It was just it was great. Like I really have no complaints except for maybe the ending scene and the uncomfortability of it. But I feel like the uncomfortability of the whole thing is just like the idea itself what the film is based off of. It's an uncomfortable topic that needs to be talked about more. So I feel like the director was trying to embody that and she did a phenomenal job doing that. But all in all, this film was great. If you have not yet watched Promising Young Woman, I suggest you check it out as soon as you can. Because it is a great film, very eye opening, very eye opening for men as well. I feel like if you are a man, you should watch this film because it could teach you a few things. Um, yeah, but this this film was great. I honestly give this film a 9 out of 10. 9.5 out of 10 even it was it was great. But anyways, guys, thanks so much for tuning into the Promising Young Woman review. If you want to see more reviews from the Film Magic team, make sure you like, comment and subscribe. Thank you guys so much for watching.