Film Review – Promising Young Woman

Taking the revenge movie into a new area of engagement, actress Emerald Fennell (“The Crown,” “Call the Midwife”) makes her filmmaking debut with “Promising Young Woman.” Inspired by courtroom tales and news reports of bad men getting away with heinous crimes against women, Fennell pours her frustration into the material, which presents a mission of malice from a 30-year-old woman who can’t process the unimaginable trauma she’s experienced. Fennell has a vision for the endeavor, taking a big tonal risk by going darkly comedic with the screenplay, and she gets most of it right. Length is a major problem for “Promising Young Woman,” which often grinds to a halt as it figures out its next move, and the presence of cartoon antics diminishes the lasting power of the effort. Horrific moments and atrocious behavior still manage to cut deep, with star Carey Mulligan offered a chance to portray grief in its strangest form, and she captures such torment superbly. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com