PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN : Tuesday 16th February 2021.

I finally got around to seeing 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN' this week following its release in Australia on 7th January. This MA15+ Rated American thriller offering is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Emerald Fennell in her feature film making debut. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020 and went on general release Stateside on 25th December 2020 having so far taken approaching US$9M at the Box Office and garnered positive Reviews. It was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review, with Carey Mulligan also winning Best Actress, and has received fifty-three award wins so far plus a further 114 nominations including four nods at the upcoming 78th Golden Globe Awards on 1st March, including Best Motion Picture, Drama.

The opening scene of the film sees three male colleagues in a bar late one evening all ridiculing a female colleague. One of the men, Jerry (Adam Brody) notices what's look to be a very drunk young and particularly attractive woman sat all alone. Egged on by his colleagues he siddles up to the woman playing the concerned and caring gentlemen who offers to share a cab home with her to ensure she arrives safely. On the journey he suggests a stop off at his place which is close by for a nightcap. She complies with his wishes and once home and after said nightcap, the woman says she needs to lie down. Jerry seizes the opportunity to get her onto his bed and starts groping, kissing and removing her underwear. At this, the woman sits bolt upright and asks what the hell he thinks he's doing, now as sober as a judge. Jerry is somewhat surprised to say the least at the woman's sudden sobriety, and starts to backtrack as the woman gives him a very stern dressing down.  

It turns out that the woman in question is thirty year old Cassandra 'Cassie' Thomas (Carey Mulligan) who lives with her parents Susan and Stanley (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown respectively). They have breakfast together every morning and Cassie's mother especially berates her for not having a boyfriend, having no friends, for still living at home, and for having a near non-existent social life. Cassie responds saying that's just the way she likes it. Cassie works at a coffee shop owned by Gail (Laverne Cox), and there one day comes in Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham) whom nine years previously she was in medical school with. Ryan is now a paediatric surgeon, while Cassie who was the brains of their class is working in a dead end coffee shop! Ryan asks Cassie out, but she initially refuses his advances. 

A few nights later and Cassie is with Neil (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), once again pretending to be very drunk in his apartment. Neil snorts a couple of lines of coke and encourages Cassie to do the same, but she blows instead of snorts. Neil comes on all sympathetic and caring about Cassie's inebriated state and starts to grope and kiss her and puts his hand up her dress. At which point, Cassie reverts back to her completely sober state and asks what he thought he was doing. Neil is taken aback and starts to be fearful of the repercussions that Cassie might bestow up on him, and is left defenceless as she pins him against the wall and reads him the riot act. 

The next days Ryan is back in the coffee shop and again asks her out on a dinner date - this time Cassie responds in the affirmative. On their first date Ryan mentions that their former classmate Alexander 'Al' Monroe (Chris Lowell) is getting married soon. Now it comes out that at medical school Cassie was very close friends with a Nina Fisher who was raped by Al Monroe nine years ago. As a result, both the school and the legal system failed Nina and as a consequence both Nina and Cassie dropped out of medical school despite being Grade A students, and subsequently Nina committed suicide. 

Hearing the news of Al's forthcoming wedding, Cassie begins plotting her revenge on those she considers responsible for the rape and death of her best friend. She first invites an old friend from medical school, Madison McPhee (Alison Brie), who didn't believe Nina's accusations, to lunch at an upmarket restaurant and gets her drunk on Champagne and red wine, then has a man she hired take Madison to her hotel room. After the incident, Cassie ignores all of her many calls. 

Next, Cassie targets Elizabeth Walker (Connie Britton), the medical school dean who dismissed Nina's case due to lack of evidence. Cassie pretends to be a makeup artist for a band called 'Wet Dream' that Walker's teenage daughter Amber (Francisca Estevez) loves and tricks the teenager into getting into her car. Later, Cassie meets Walker under the pretense of resuming her education and questions her about the events that led to Nina's dropout and death. When Walker explains away her actions, Cassie tells her she dropped Amber off at a dorm room with a bunch of drunk male students, and not to worry!! After a fearful Walker apologises for her inaction, Cassie reveals Amber is safe at a local diner. 

Next up Cassie pays a visit to Jordan Green (Alfred Molina), Al's lawyer who harassed Nina into dropping her charges. When Green expresses remorse for his actions, having suffered a mental breakdown over his guilt and now on a forced sabbatical from his law firm, Cassie forgives him. After visiting Nina's mother (Molly Shannon), who urges her to move on, Cassie abandons the rest of her plans for revenge. And so Cassie's relationship with Ryan goes from strength to strength, so much so that the pair find themselves falling in love with each other. 

One day when returning home, Cassie finds Madison waiting outside her house, still distraught and desperate to know what happened after their lunch having woken up in a hotel room with a strange man with whom she has no memory. Cassie reassures her that nothing happened. In response, Madison gives Cassie an old phone containing a video of Nina's rape before telling her to never make contact with her again. As she watches the video, Cassie is shocked to see Ryan among the onlookers. She confronts him at the hospital where he works and threatens to release the video unless he tells her where Al's bachelor party is being held. Ryan tells her and begs for forgiveness, but Cassie refuses and turns her back on him.

Cassie arrives at Al's bachelor party as a stripper in a nurses uniform, plying Al's friends with spiked alcohol to knock them all out and takes Al upstairs to be alone. She handcuffs him to the bed which he willingly volunteers to, and then reveals her true identity to him. However, as she tries to carve Nina's name into Al's stomach, he breaks free from one pair of cuffs, overpowers her and suffocates Cassie under a pillow. 

The next morning, Al's friend Joe (Max Greenfield) comes up to the room, discovers a sobbing Al and the lifeless body of Cassie still under the pillow, consoles him and helps him burn Cassie's body to destroy any evidence. A couple of days later Cassie's parents file a missing person report, and the Police begin an investigation. A Detective questions Ryan at the hospital, but Ryan does not reveal where Cassie was going and states that they split up five days ago and suggests she was mentally unwell and possibly suicidal.

During Al's wedding reception in the grounds of the house where the bachelor party was held, it is revealed that Cassie had sent Jordan Green the phone with the video of Nina's rape, along with information on where she was headed and who would be responsible if she went missing. The Police begin to arrive immediately after the wedding ceremony, and with Police tracker dogs uncover the burnt remains of Cassie's body. At the reception in front of all the gathered guests, the Police arrest Al and cart him away handcuffed, while Joe flees the scene and Ryan receives several scheduled texts from Cassie, explaining that this is not the end, until it is. She signs off in her name and a ; )

This is a thought provoking, of the moment, pitch black revenge thriller comedy that starts of light but culminates in a real sucker punch by the time the end credits roll, that will leave an impression firmly planted in your brain long after you have left the theatre. For her debut movie making outing, Director and Writer Emerald Fennell has here delivered a bold, audacious, never boring and highly relevant film underpinned by perhaps a career best performance from Carey Mulligan playing completely against type, and she absolutely nails it. The rest of the principle cast are alas undercooked in the often fleeting scenes they are in, but carried along on Mulligan's coat tails which should propel her into the Best Actress nominations at this years upcoming Oscars. 

'Promising Young Woman' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 12th-18th June 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Dave Franco does on 12th June - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 31, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 12th June

• Dave Franco - Born 1985, turns 31 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Richard Ayoade - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Frances O'Connor - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actress

Monday 13th June

• Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen - Born 1986, turn 30 - Actresses | Producers  
• Ally Sheedy - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress
• Tim Allen - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Stellen Skarsgard - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Simon Callow - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Malcolm McDowell - Born 1943, turns 73 - Actor | Producer
• Chris Evans - Born 1981, turns 35 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Born 1990, turns 26 - Actor
• Kodi Smit-McPhee - Born 1996, turns 20 - Actor

Tuesday 14th June

• Will Patton - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actor
• Diablo Cody - Born 1978, turns 38 - Writer | Producer | Director  

Wednesday 15th June

• Pia Miranda - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress
• Courtney Cox - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Helen Hunt - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director 
• James Belushi - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Ice Cube aka O'Shea Jackson - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• Jake Busey - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
• Neil Patrick Harris - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer 

Thursday 16th June

• Daniel Bruhl - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actor
• John Cho - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor
• Arnold Vosloo - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer  

Friday 17th June

• Ken Loach - Born 1936, turns 80 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Bobby Farrelly - Born 1958, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Thomas Haden Church - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Greg Kinnear - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jason Patric - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Producer
• Will Forte - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer  
• Louis Leterrier - Born 1973, turns 43 - Producer | Director

Saturday 18th June

• Paul McCartney - Born 1942, turns 74 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Writer | Actor | Producer | Director
• Richard Madden - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actor
• Barbara Broccoli - Born 1960, turns 56 - Producer
• Isabella Rossellini - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director  

David John Franco was born in Palo Alto, California to mother Betsy Verne, a poet, author, editor and occasional Actress, and father Eugene Franco a business owner/operator in Silicone Valley who passed away in 2011. He is the younger brother of Actors James and the lesser known Tom. Franco grew up in California where he attended the University of Southern California with designs on becoming a high school creative writing teacher. However, his brother James' Manager led him to take up theatre classes in his second year at University where his interest in acting was first sparked.

His acting career kicked off with '7th Heaven' in 2006 for The CW Television Network in which he appeared in a single episode. That same year he appeared in the short film 'Frat Boys' before scoring a place on 'Superbad' in 2007 with the likes of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Emma Stone. The film was generally well received and took US$170M from its US$20M outlay. Later that year was 'After Sex' in which he starred as one half of a couple having conversations after sex, whilst exploring the modern day complexities of relationships as seen through the eyes, hearts and minds of seven other couples.

2008 saw five episodes on 'Do Not Disturb' (seven episodes were filmed, four aired and then promptly the show was cancelled). 'Greek' was next which ran for 74 episodes over four seasons with Franco gaining a spot on six, and then came 'Privileged' which aired for eighteen episodes over just one season in which Franco appeared in five. 'Milk' also came out that year in which Franco played a small role alongside brother James, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin and Victor Garber. The film was critically very well received and made back almost three times its production budget. Seeing out the decade was the low budget direct to DVD horror thriller 'The Shortcut', a short film never released called 'A Fuchsia Elephant', and thirteen episodes in the ninth and final series of 'Scrubs'.

The new decade launched with the Noah Baumbach Written and Directed 'Greenberg' with Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Greta Gerwig, Brie Larson, Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The film was positively received but it made less than 25% of its production costs. 'Charlie St. Cloud' followed later that year with Zac Efron, Ray Liotta and Kim Bassinger, with 'The Broken Tower' following. This film was Directed, Written, Produced, Edited and starring his brother James Franco, his mother Betsy and Michael Shannon and made by James as part of his film-making thesis for New York University. 'Fright Night' - the remake of the 1985 film of the same name also starred Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Toni Collette and Imogen Poots and received critical acclaim and the recovery of its budget. Comedy horror 'Bad Meat' saw out 2011.

The Dave Franco penned short film 'Would You' also starred his mother Betsy and once again Christopher Mintz-Plasse. 2012 also saw '21 Jump Street' with Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, and Brie Larson - he would reprise his role in the 2014 sequel, '22 Jump Street' albeit uncredited, together with a bunch of other uncredited appearances by Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Queen Latifah. The 2013 ZomRomCom 'Warm Bodies' with Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and John Malkovich did well critically and commercially in which he also starred.


This gave way to his first turn as Jack Wilder - one of the Four Horsemen, in 'Now You See Me' opposite Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Isla Fisher. Although the film received mixed Reviews, it made US$352M from its US$75M budget outlay and spawned a very recently released sequel 'Now You See Me : The Second Act' in which Franco reprises his role. 'NYSM 3' has already been announced, and was so as early as a year ago already. The 2014 'Lego Movie' starred an ensemble voice cast that included Franco in a voice cameo, with a sequel in the works too for a May 2018 release date given the critical acclaim and the US$470M haul it took. 'Bad Neighbours' followed with Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne and regular running mate Christopher Mintz-Plasse which again on the strength of its US$271M Box Office take spawned a sequel earlier this year for which Franco also reprised his role. So far the Box Office receipts for the second instalment 'Bad Neighbours 2 : Sorority Rising' stands so far at just US$91M.

Last year there was 'Unfinished Business' with Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Frost and Sienna Miller which tanked commercially and critically. In the meantime there were television series appearances on 'Young Justice' and 'Other Space' and the upcoming Netflix comedy series 'Easy'. There have also been multiple videos on the comedy video website 'Funny or Die' in which Franco has starred, Written and/or Directed.





Next up is 'Zeroville' Directed by brother James and also starring brother James with Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell and Megan Fox it tells the story of a late 60's Hollywood and the change the film industry was going through at that time. Franco here plays screen legend Montgomery Clift. Also Directed by James Franco and to follow up is 'The Masterpiece' with Zac Efron (again), Seth Rogen (again), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (again), Bryan Cranston, Josh Hutchinson, Alison Brie and Sharon Stone that looks behind the scenes of the making of that cult film for all the wrong reasons - 'The Room' in 2003. Then there is 'Nerve' with Juliette Lewis and Emma Roberts and 'The Little Hours' for 2017 with Alison Brie and John C. Reilly.

All up Franco has 41 Acting credits, eight Writer credits, three as Producer and one as Director. He has three award wins and one other nomination. He has been engaged to Actress and occasional Co-Star Alison Brie since August 2015.

Dave Franco - younger brother to multi-talented James Franco but determined not to be overshadowed by him and to carve out his own career in the movie business; good buddies and frequent collaborator on screen and off it with Christopher Mintz-Plasse; describes himself as small & shifty, a cat person and the proud owner of two, tough critically on himself and not comedic. With that determination, those credentials and your track record to date things will undoubtedly continue on the up for you. Happy Birthday Dave, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-