Promising Young Woman

In filmmaker Emerald Fennell's diabolically funny takedown of toxic masculinity, Carey Mulligan gives a dynamite performance that should make her a frontrunner in the Oscar race for Best Actress.

Manipulative and nihilistic, it forces a ruthlessly honest performance from Carey Mulligan to play along with its provocative, booby-trapped plot that comes riddled with "gotcha" moments.

This is lip-gloss misanthropy packaged as feminist manifesto, clever but not smart, cynical without being perceptive or particularly passionate. Women are angry for good reason. They also deserve better movies than this one.

A smart, provocative, pitch-black dark comedy and revenge movie with an astonishingly powerful, deeply layered performance by Carey Mulligan as Cassie...

Promising Young Woman is more profoundly a devastating reflection of a woman consumed with grief.

Fennell builds a backward fantasy that feels ultimately cathartic in a very real way, but where its opening tone comes across as far too light for the palpable gravity of its ending.

A genuinely great movie that's full of surprises, well-placed comedy, and a ton of satisfying and shocking moments in what is a fabulous debut offering from Emerald Fennell.

Promising Young Woman has some frustrating inconsistencies but it presents a fresh female perspective and marks a very promising debut for Fennell.

"A career-defining performance from Mulligan and phenomenal writing and stylish direction from Fennell in her feature debut."

Promising Young Woman, then, unabashedly offers the bitch-in-sheep's-clothing trope. In its intentionality, it works.