The defence The Big-Idea Head
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
Back to trending 
Promising Young Woman
Thriller · Crime · Drama · 2020
A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.
Movie details
Promising Young Woman
“Revenge never looked so promising.”
2020 Thriller · Crime · Drama 1h 54m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.4 / 10
Community rating
A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Promising Young Woman?
For the defence
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Sleepers
Crime · 1996
Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.
Cape Fear
Drama · 1991
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
The Iceman
Thriller · 2012
The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man.
Cape Fear
Thriller · 1962
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.
Violent Ends
Thriller · 2025
Lucas Frost, an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence, tries to make his own life with his fiancée, Emma. He is suddenly pulled back into the family business he so despises when his cousin, Eli, perpetrates an armed robbery on a local scrap yard and an innocent life is caught in the crossfire.
The Crush
Thriller · 1993
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Drama · 2017
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.
The Unforgivable
Drama · 2021
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Return to Sender
Drama · 2015
A nurse mistakes a stranger who pays her a visit for her blind date and soon, the man rapes her and turns her life upside down. The woman works to reclaim her life and exact revenge on her assailant after he's paroled from prison.
Luckiest Girl Alive
Drama · 2022
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Emerald Fennell
Written by
Emerald Fennell
Carey Mulligan
Cassandra
Bo Burnham
Ryan
Alison Brie
Madison
Clancy Brown
Stanley
Jennifer Coolidge
Susan
Laverne Cox
Gail
Chris Lowell
Al Monroe
Court is in session
Put Promising Young Woman on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.