Thinking about how Promising Young Woman seems to have a lock on Best Original Screenplay tonight and how the film so brutally missed the mark for me.

PYW relies so heavily on pop songs to set tone and atmosphere that it feels more like an extended music video compilation rather than a film utilizing a few key moments to layer in pop culture references.

Cassie’s plan is ... what exactly? Putting herself in danger continually to create teachable moments for scuzballs? The aimless plot feels misguided, harmful and useless like so much of white feminism.

Cassie centres herself so deeply as her friend’s avenging angel that it becomes her narrative rather than us learning anything about the victim herself or the world around them that created these circumstances.

Finally, @necromandrea’s point when we first saw it of the film relying on a DEEPLY corrupt justice system to ultimately deal retribution to the men is so tone deaf for a film released in the last few years.

If the movie reached you & meant something to you then I think that’s great. I hope it can be a jumping off point to richer narratives. We can demand more from content that grapples with these topics and there are already examples out there (I May Destroy You, The Assistant, MFA)

Fennell comes from an extremely well-connected family and given the reception of PYW she’ll have lots of opportunities to make more films. I hope she surprises us all next time.