In & Out [post]: Promising Young Woman

Can you guess what every woman's worst nightmare is?

Title: Promising Young Woman  Rating: R  Runtime: 117 min

Streamed on: HBO Max   Number of times my wife fell asleep: 0

What's it about? The only promise this young woman makes, is a day of reckoning for all the assholes and would-be scumbags of the world. That tipsy blonde in the corner of the bar? Take her home, bro. I f--king dare you. (basically, this film could be the most badass MCU flick ever, as it's essentially a goddamned superhero flick where Thanos' plan ain't got shit on what the criminally underappreciated Carrie Mulligan has in store for half the population)

What works: From the very first scene to the very last, Promising Young Woman is relentless. The mystery of how we are where we are unravels with a remarkable intensity, as Cassie's journey is equal parts terrifying and terrific. It's an awful story about awful people doing awful things, but there's a certain uneasy pleasure derived from Cassie's mission. The script is amazing, the supporting cast tremendous, but it is absolutely Mulligan who f--king owns every frame she is in (and honestly, even the frames she's not in). 

What doesn't work: Outside of the whole thing being remarkably unsettling (and unfortunately traumatic for some), everything works. You might have to give the story a little leeway in regard to the amount of shit one person can get away with (you can look at that at that from either side, sadly), but other than that, I was all in, all-day.

Yays: Did I mention how awesome Mulligan is? I did? Good. Frankly, it can't be said enough. The only thing better than her performance is the look on every guy's face when they realize they done f--ked up. Oh, and don't think it's just the fellas that have crossed the wrong person, as there's a scene with a certain powerful woman that is f--king tremendous. And while almost every guy along the way is somehow worse than the one prior, can I throw some quick love to her dad? He seemed like a good dude...I hope.

Boos: This is actually a Yay, but I can't believe they used Adam Brody the way they did. I get it...and it's tremendous, but goddamned, you really gonna rope-a-dope me like that? I get it with McLovin', sure (though that was some excellent casting-against-type too (sort of?), but Seth from the O.C.? Damn. Another bit of aww, I didn't see that coming...would have to be the ending. I was really, really enjoying what was going down...until I didn't...but then it went back to being awesome...sort of. Shit, I almost forgot - what the Hell was up with Best Man Guy? Holy f--k that dude was literally human garbage. And speaking of, I'm not sure there's a guy out there that will leave this one feeling good about themselves in some shape or form. No, right? We really are just the f--king worst.

What genre is this movie? IMDb lists it as Crime/Drama/Mystery but I'm thinking a better trilogy of terms would be Horror/Superhero/Chaos.