Promising Young Woman seems to be one type of movie before slyly becoming another and then another. The log-line of the flick makes it sound like a sordid feminist (or maybe pseudo-feminist) revenge flick that’s all about sick visceral thrills. And it can be that. But it’s also a thoughtful film, a weirdly romantic film, a sly film, a romantic comedy, and dark social criticism. It’s smart and it’s wicked and I loved it.

Carey Mulligan plays a woman who makes a habit of getting drunk at bars and night clubs so that a nice guy will approach her and take her home so he can have his way with her. But she isn’t drunk and she’s in control. This obsession is fueled by an event that happened years earlier in college… and when she gets some news that brings back the memories, she starts to plan her ultimate revenge. And then she meets an actual nice guy.

I dig this movie so much because it’s smart and I think it knows what we expect from it. And it both does and doesn’t deliver on those expectations… and that’s not even including the dips into satire and romantic comedy. And it’s not being directly satirical about the rom-com scenes though it knows – almost to a science – how to present that kind of movie. From the witty, cute banter to dancing to a Paris Hilton (!) pop song in a pharmacy… it IS that movie because, I think, it knows the tropes and plays them to perfection.

The film takes so many left turns and is so tonally varied, it’s hard to know where it’s going and what’s going to happen. And the end is both infuriating, darkly comedic, and wickedly fun. And it will no doubt be very divisive and I think that’s just as intentional as its tone shifts. This movie knows what it’s doing and it knows it’ll piss some people off and I think that’s great.

The cast is brilliant. Carey Mulligan creates such an interesting character who I want to root for whether she’s on a revenge kick or not. She’s angry, she’s smart, she’s hopeful. She’s joined by a great cast, some in pretty small parts. Bo Burnham plays her on-again/off-again boyfriend. Allison Brie, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Adam Brody, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Alfred Molina, Molly Shannon, and Clancy Brown join for parts both large and small.

I think this is a brilliant film but I understand how it will be divisive. You may love it or hate it but I bet you won’t be in the middle of the road. Some will hate it for being too feminist, some for betraying its message, some for the ending, some for thinking its not as smart as it thinks it is, and some for the tonal whiplash. But I do think it’s that smart and I loved that it wasn’t the sordid suspense potboiler it sounds like it’s going to be… while being just that and more.

Score: 90