I’m a man of letters and a journalist, so I want to make clear the truth about Carey Mulligan in case she is reading this. Ms. Mulligan: You are plenty hot enough to play the lead in Promising Young Woman, and don’t let that Variety review get you down.
Switching tenses, Mulligan is easily the best recommendation for this movie, which all around doesn’t work and is only mildly redeemed by Mulligan first and Emerald Fennell’s construction second. I think she’s a good filmmaker in aesthetic terms. I’m not as sure she’s as stable a storyteller. The narrative here has, in a word, issues, and on top of that tries to subvert a genre niche that doesn’t really need subversion.
You can read my full review over at Paste Magazine.
A Constant Visual Feast 