Thirty-year-old underachieving med school dropout Cassie works in a coffee bar and lives with her parents. By night she moonlights as a vigilante by posing as an intoxicated party girl, allowing predatory males to pick her up and take her to their apartments. When they begin to molest her, she abandons her pretense of helplessness and reprimands the would-be ravishers for their poor behavior, which supposedly transforms them into emasculated drones.
Cassie's crusade is interrupted when Ryan, a fellow student from her time at med school, visits the coffee bar and asks for a date. A tepid romance blossoms, but complications ensue when it turns out Ryan is pals with Al who has a history of preying on inebriated women. This development provokes Cassie to resume her revenge mission, leading to a melodramatic conclusion that attempts to satisfy all tastes. Despite Carey Mulligan's decent performance, it's difficult to take Cassie's story seriously. Very little of this film passes a credulity test - it's also peppered with artifice, and filmed in a Barbieland color palette amid baroque suburban interiors. Sexual assault is a serious matter but writer/director Fennell gives it a flippant satirical treatment. Ultimately the film isn't half as clever as it imagines itself.
Cassie's crusade is interrupted when Ryan, a fellow student from her time at med school, visits the coffee bar and asks for a date. A tepid romance blossoms, but complications ensue when it turns out Ryan is pals with Al who has a history of preying on inebriated women. This development provokes Cassie to resume her revenge mission, leading to a melodramatic conclusion that attempts to satisfy all tastes. Despite Carey Mulligan's decent performance, it's difficult to take Cassie's story seriously. Very little of this film passes a credulity test - it's also peppered with artifice, and filmed in a Barbieland color palette amid baroque suburban interiors. Sexual assault is a serious matter but writer/director Fennell gives it a flippant satirical treatment. Ultimately the film isn't half as clever as it imagines itself.