Promising Young Woman * * * *

"Vengeance is mine", saith Cassie.

You'll have such a good time watching this it won't be until afterward that you realise how ridiculous the story is.  It's rather like the vigilante films from the seventies (think Death Wish etc) where you had some guy who is so sick of the scum in society he decides to clean things up himself.

    Cassie has bad men in her sights.  Especially predatory men who exploit intoxicated girls. She goes out at night and plays the part of a hopelessly drunken girl in a bar, waits for some guy to take advantage of her, then ... watch out!  (Carey Mulligan is a fine actor  but I find it hard to believe that in reality anyone could play at being intoxicated for very long before being caught out).   She also has a few other tricks up her sleeve including shaming and blackmail and other threats. 

  Cassie is motivated by the loss of a dear friend who was the victim of the appalling behavior of a bunch of drunken men.  She still lives with her loving parents (in their classic 70's style home).  They are aware that their daughter was traumatized so much by the loss of her friend she dropped out of medical school, but they do not know what she is up to now.  Rather like Wonder Woman  she has a dual life. She works in a coffee shop in the day and gets up to her one-woman vigilante at night.
    It's very funny at times and has it's own look and feel bordering on comic-strip reality as Cassie grows in confidence and audacity, becoming almost God-like with her ability to issue vengeance or forgiveness. 
    It's written and  directed by Emerald Fennell who wrote and directed a number of episodes of the Television Series Killing Eve.  If you enjoyed that it's probably fair to say you'll like this too.  I did.