Review: 'Promising Young Woman' Haunting, but Doesn't Quite Reach Its Potential

In an era of the #MeToo movement, it is great to see Hollywood tackling the topic in a way that offers more than just lip service. With "Promising Young Woman," you aren't going to get a shallow attempt to look at the issue of rape and its effects on women. You are given an in-your-face look at its impact. Despite sometimes fumbling with the material, "Promising Young Woman" is one of the most haunting films you will see this year.

By day, Cassandra works in a coffee shop while living with her parents. But as night falls, she gets dressed up and heads out to bars. She's not there to have a good time. Instead, she's there to lure men who try to aide her as she appears intoxicated when she is stumbling around the bar. Each self-proclaimed "good guy" takes her back to their place, but the men are in for the surprise of their life when she snaps out of her supposed stupor, springing back to clearheaded consciousness to chastise them for trying to take advantage of her.

Cassie is dealing with trauma related to her friend being victimized, becoming a vigilante to try to rid the world of predatory men. She is stunted, frozen in time because of the event, which occurred while she was in medical school. All of the memories from that time come rushing back into focus for her when a former classmate comes into the coffee shop and asks her out.

"Promising Young Woman" has an exciting and important message that it is trying to share with the audience, and it does so in a titillating way. The problem is that the execution onscreen sometimes muddies that message due to the lengths that Cassie will go, even as people ask her to move on with her life.

Carey Mulligan, in the lead role, is absolutely captivating. Bound to be an Oscar nominee, the role gives Mulligan so much to play with as she alternates on a dime between being seductive femme fatale, and damaged girl just looking for good in the world. She embodies the role so well that it is hard to picture anyone else giving the character as much depth or invoking as much empathy, despite what she is doing.

Mulligan is surrounded by an all-star cast who, even in the smallest of roles, are given their chance to shine. Many of the actors are cast against type, with Jennifer Coolidge playing Mulligan's mother and Alison Brie a former classmate who also becomes one of Cassie's victims. The most surprising of these turns is that of McLovin actor, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as one of the guys who brings Cassie home from a bar.

Making her feature directing debut, Emerald Fennell – who also wrote the script – hits almost all every right note. The problem, without spoiling too much, is that Cassie is so blinded in her mission to exact revenge for what was done to her friend that she ends up missing out on being able to live her own life, and unintentionally inflicts damage on a few who had nothing to do with the incident, but just care about her.

Fennell, who served as the executive producer for the second season of "Killing Eve," gets a little heavy handed by painting the male characters in broad strokes, making them much less nuanced than their female counterparts. She doesn't allow for much gray areas with them, though to be fair many of the characters get what the deserve by the time the credits start rolling. In Cassie's dealing with the men, Fennell infuses the film with a pitch-black sense of humor to break up otherwise tense and serious scenes.

"Promising Young Woman" has some issues in the execution of the material, but it is still nonetheless a film that will take your breath away and stay with you long after it is finished – especially with an ending that you will probably watching with your jaw wide open. Mulligan deserves all of the accolades that she will receive for her work here. There's plenty to rave about in the film, but it never quite achieves the promising levels that it could have.

"Promising Young Woman" AVAILABLE TO OWN FOR THE FIRST TIME ON DIGITAL MARCH 2, 2021.