Promising Young Woman (2020)

You're probably already familiar with Promising Young Woman, either after seeing the impressive trailer or just hearing about the excellence of the central performance from Carey Mulligan. If you have heard people heap lots of praise upon it then, trust me, it's all warranted. Promising Young Woman is an enjoyable thriller that manages to be as entertaining and satisfying as it is searingly damning.

Mulligan plays Cassandra, a young woman who dropped out of university after a traumatic event changed her life, and the life of her friend, Nina, forever. Always ready to assume the worst in people, Cassandra hangs around in various clubs, pretending that she is very drunk, and waits for some guy to come along and act as if he's being her saviour. When the man inevitably decides that sex is on the cards, Cassandra drops her charade and confronts them about their behaviour. Despite this being all well and good, and an important lesson for every man she meets, Cassandra also has a grand plan to get revenge on the main criminal who ruined Nina's life. But that plan may need some tweaking, especially as she connects with Ryan (Bo Burnham), a paediatrician who was also at the same university. Is Ryan different from other men she has encountered? Is he a good man? He certainly seems to be better than most.

Although she has a number of acting credits to her name, this is an incredible feature debut from writer-director Emerald Fennell (who also wrote a number of episodes for the highly-praised Killing Eve). The big plus is creating a central character who is such a determined and smart day of reckoning for those who are blissfully ignorant of her ongoing work. Although taking aim at the behaviour of many men, it also ensures that viewers are reminded of how society is still designed to support and enforce a patriarchy that allows that kind of behaviour to be justified, defended, or disbelieved, even in the face of clear and obvious evidence.

Mulligan gives what may well be a career-best performance here, and that is saying something. Her character is so often attempting to outwit and wrong-foot others that her performance needs to be made up of layers upon layers. Burnham is very good alongside her, someone who may be a good guy, patient and understanding, but who may also get in the way of the main plan. Alison Brie gives an enjoyably ugly turn as Madison, someone who disbelieved Nina back in university, and doesn't think of her reaction as necessarily something to be ashamed of, and Connie Britton is so detached in her role of Dean Walker that it would be funny if it wasn't so sad/horrible. Chris Lowell is Al Monroe, the top name on Cassandra's list, with good reason, and he's also very good. Nobody gives a bad performance at all, whether it's Adam Brody or Christopher Mintz-Plasse, playing two different types of awful men, Laverne Cox, as Cassandra's employer, or Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge, who play Cassandra's parents. You also get a fantastic couple of scenes featuring an uncredited Alfred Molina, a lawyer who bluntly lays out how the system works.

Considering the path this goes on, it's surprising that Fennell has kept it all so perfectly balanced. There are moments that will give you chills, scenes full of real potential nastiness, but they're often eventually reframed by a line of dialogue or an action that shows we, as much as anyone else around Cassandra, were being tricked into thinking the worst. Which is easy to do, because few people have as strong a moral compass as Cassandra has, and that says a lot about where we are with our world today.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Eighth Grade (2018)

The debut feature film written and directed by the sickeningly talented Bo Burnham, who has previously been at the helm of a number of comedy specials (and not just his own), Eighth Grade succeeds where others fail thanks to the way it looks at very modern problems in the lives of young teenagers while also showing that these things don't ever change the personal journeys, the battles, that almost every one of us will go through during those difficult years.

Elsie Fisher plays Kayla Day, the young girl who is just trying to survive until the end of eighth grade, looking forward to a fresh start at high school as she takes turns trying to fit in with various crowds and then simply not caring what others think as she stays true to herself. She has a loving, concerned, father (Josh Hamilton) but doesn't seem to have any friends. Her online videos haven't really taken off either, although she keeps making them. It's recognisable stuff, often painful, and a reminder that other kids suck when you're a kid. Thank god I didn't grow up in the age of social media. I am sure there are some moments I would never have lived down, and it was tough enough for me as it was (spotty horror fan with curly hair and not a lot of money . . . winner winner chicken dinner).

I'm not sure whether he thoroughly researched the current situation, whether he got lucky with his writing, or whether he is just so young that he remembers everything vividly, but Burnham has crafted a film here that seems to replicate the standard experience for many who are in that position of both dreading the impending transfer to high school while also hoping for it to sweep away all of the crap that has been endured for the past few years. Of course, it can all go horribly wrong on day one, but that doesn't stop you clinging on to that shred of hope.

Burnham is also helped here by one major factor. His casting. Let me be as clear as I can here. Fisher is a goddamn star, giving a performance that keeps you alongside her for every step of the way, even while she is making mistakes and lashing out in a state of distress. At times seeming wise beyond her years, at other times reminding you that she's very much a child needing protected from the world and the predators that are always out there, Fisher gives a better teen performance than any other I can think of. And I've been thinking on it for a fair amount of time. Hamilton is wonderful as her father, in terms of both performance and the character. It's a sweet central relationship, which comes complete with a speech in the third act that will be recognisable to any parent who has ever tried to placate an upset child and TRY to allay their many insecurities. There are other people in the cast, and they're all good, but the film belongs to Fisher and Hamilton (but mostly Fisher).

The tone is perfectly judged. Burnham knows how far to take things, in terms of how uncomfortable or cringey it will be, and when to then pull back. Not only that, viewers are rewarded by at least one character moment that is akin to a knockout punch finally being delivered by Rocky Balboa, it's THAT satisfying, and the film ebbs and flows beautifully between the thunderclouds that look set to stay over Kayla's head for a long, long time and the rays of sunshine that push through, and warm up and energise her spirit, to remind her that the weather changes. It changes all the time, and even just knowing that Kayla realises that is enough to save this from being too downbeat and difficult to watch.

There's some other movie out this week (I think, something to do with superheroes) but don't let the 1001 screenings of that make you forget all about this. That film will be there for weeks. This one won't be given the same exposure or schedule.

9/10

Americans can already get it here.

Rough Night (2017)

2017 ended up being the year in which we had two big cinema releases focusing on women getting together and letting their hair down. But where Girls Trip may have tried to play the premise with a surprising emphasis on some more dramatic moments, Rough Night is content to just go for the laughs, with fleeting emotional moments doled out as and when the character development needs to be prodded to the next point.

Scarlett Johansson plays Jess, a young woman about to get married. She's also hoping to become an elected official, although this is in doubt as too many members of the public don't find her that appealing. She is behind the polls to a man who accidentally sent out a dick pic. He apologised, but only while sending out another dick pic that was obviously intended to go out the first time around. So it's no wonder that Jess is looking forward to some fun with her friends, played by Jillian Bell, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, and Kate McKinnon (playing an Australian who is unfamiliar with the rest of the group). Unfortunately, it doesn't take that long for someone to go and accidentally kill the male stripper who was hired as entertainment. Which means the fun plans have to be altered to body disposal plans. And hilarity ensues. Perhaps.

With a plot that seems to mix Bridesmaids and Very Bad Things (without the spiralling chain of deaths), Rough Night isn't going to claim any points for originality. Everyone involved seems to know this, with every main sequence played out almost exactly as you'd expect, but that's not a bad thing when the aim is always to simply amuse and entertain viewers.

Director Lucia Aniello, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul W. Downs (also starring as Johansson's husband-to-be), makes her feature debut, and shows that she's a safe pair of hands for this kind of material. Keeping the whole thing at just about 100 minutes, Aniello and Downs know just how to pitch the elements that could seem distasteful in clumsier hands (the main death, a plot point that hinges on someone getting themselves involved with a pair of swingers, even the ongoing strand that shows Downs driving across the country, wired on energy drinks and wearing an adult diaper, as he frets that his fiance may no longer love him), and they give

Glazer and Kravitz may be the weakest of the leads, although it's safe to say that they're not given very much to work with at all, but that doesn't matter when you have Bell and McKinnon bickering at one another fine style, and Johansson trying to remain calm and level-headed throughout the escalating madness. Downs is also very good in his scenes, given some fun support from Bo Burnham in a cameo role, and Ty Burrell and Demi Moore have fun in the couple of scenes they're given.

It's not great, it's entirely predictable (seriously, if you can't see how the third act is going to pan out then I assume you have avoided every mainstream cinema release since the mid-1970s), but it still manages to be funny enough to make it a decent prospect to accompany some snacks and the beverage of your choice.

6/10

Rough Night is available to purchase here.
Or here, in the land of stars and stripes.

The Big Sick (2017)

Written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (husband and wife), The Big Sick is a romantic comedy loosely based on how . . . Kumail Nanjiani met and fell in love with Emily V. Gordon. What could have seemed smug and self-indulgent ends up being something fully deserving of all the accolades it has received over the past few months. On the poster and Blu-ray cover you can see phrases like "easily one of the best rom-coms of the decade", "romantic and hilarious", and "sparkling and heartfelt", as well as a few five-star ratings to help sell it. And all of those statements and ratings, originating from sources as varied as the likes of Variety and Glamour, are absolutely correct.

Very much in line with the other films that have been helped into creation by producer Judd Apatow, this is a mix of comedy and drama that gives characters room to breath in a two-hour runtime. Unlike some of the other Apatow movies I could mention, however, this doesn't ever feel as if it is overstaying its welcome.

That is down to the main performances, and the fact that Nanjiani and Gordon have such a great story to spin into cinema gold. Director Michael Showalter doesn't concern himself too much with adding any bells or whistles, happy to rely on the characters and the dialogue, which is a smart decision on his part.

Although Nanjiani happily plays himself onscreen, his wife is portrayed by Zoe Kazan. Kazan is fine, although she spends a large portion of the movie offscreen, or visible on a hospital bed (hence the title, the plot is basically Kumail and Emily having a big fight and then Emily ending up hospitalised and placed in a medically induced coma, which can make it a bit awkward to kiss and make up). Holly Hunter and Ray Romano play Emily's worried parents, and they are both excellent, which is something I never thought I would say about Romano, considering I assumed Everybody Loves Raymond was a deliberately ironic sitcom about one of the most annoying men on the planet. Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff are both very good, playing Kumail's parents, and Adeel Akhtar is Kumail's brother, Naveed. Other comics are represented by Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler, and there's nobody in the supporting cast who drops the ball, including many not mentioned here.

There aren't any major set-pieces here, and few of the laughs aren't BIG laughs, but the laughs are surprisingly consistent, entwined nicely with the drama and the heart of the whole thing. This is from the script and the presentation of the material, but it would be remiss to undervalue just how much of the film succeeds thanks to the sheer likeability of Nanjiani. He has been putting in fun performances for a good few years now, often in material that isn't really deserving of his presence, and I hope we can now see him in some more lead roles.

9/10

The Big Sick is out now. Buy it here - The Big Sick at Amazon.co.uk