Promising Young Woman ( Amazon)

Contributor Bruce Pierini

Bruce likes gory horror films (which is what I assumed this film to be.) But word has it that this is not one of those. So, based on his guest review I plan to give it a chance. I’ll probably watch it this coming week. In the meantime let Bruce (and me) know what your thoughts are about it. In fact, let me know– given my dislike of scary movies–if I should watch it..

Important Correction!! I was wrong. Bruce does not like gory movies. But he does enjoy a good psychological thriller and those are sometimes just too scary tense for faint-hearted me.

This is a recent addition to Amazon Prime which, I’ve read, has a lot of people talking….it’s a kind of feminist-vendetta-against-pigs movie. It’s very well-acted by both principals and supporting cast. The story features a medical school drop-out (she dropped out for reasons central to the vendetta-driven plot) who is working at a coffee shop. Years earlier, her best friend suffered a great trauma at the hands of a now-successful, soon-to-be-married doctor and the lead is out to make men like him (and him, too) pay a price for their shitty treatment of women. She fakes being out-of-her-mind drunk at bars as a trap to see how men who think of themselves as “nice” in fact, turn out to be the opposite.

There are some great scenes of “romantic” drama and a flood of vituperative observations that women can I believe connect with (As it appears being harassed is a universal female experience)

You might not like the ending and there are a couple of too-easy narrative takes but overall, I found it a powerful indictment of men at their worst “best.”