Review: Promising Young Woman May Not Be So Promising Isabel Bassin Contributing Writer Warning: this article contains spoilers along with mentions of sexual assault and suicide.
P
romising Young Woman continues to trend on the iTunes “Top 25 Movies” chart and received 4 Golden Globes nominations. Starring Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, and Alison Brie, Promising Young Woman tells the story of a med-school drop out (Cassie) working in a coffee shop
by day, and entrapping men by night. She feigns intoxication to catch predators in order to overcome an unspecified trauma involving her late best friend (Nina). Casie is attempting to dismantle a society in which becoming a victim of sexual assault is effortless by confronting one predator at a time. This exceedingly dangerous act constantly puts her in vulnerable situations, allowing herself to be taken home by potential rapists. When she falls in love with an old college acquaintance (Ryan), it seems as if she has left her strange hobby behind her. But, when it is revealed that the man who is the source of the trauma she suffered is back in town and soon to be married, a quest is incited within her to seek revenge on him once and for all.
Carey Mulligan as “Cassie.”
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As the movie progresses, it is revealed that the man and his
A notebook containing the names of all the men who attempted to take advantage of the “drunk” woman. friends drugged, raped, and recorded the protagonist’s late best friend as a sort of cruel joke. The victim filed a lawsuit, but was bullied into dropping the case by members of a corrupt legal system. It is then implied that she committed suicide, and left the protagonist on a downward spiral ending with her quitting the school they all went to and moving in with her parents. When Cassie gets concrete evidence of the assault, she discovers her current love interest
