Promising Young Woman

Self-professed "nice guys", who are actually anything but, are taken savagely to task in this candy-hued, acid-tongued revenge fantasy, helmed with panache by debut writer/director Emerald Fennell (also known for playing Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown). Following a scarring experience at medical school, the former promising young woman of the title (Carey Mulligan) has been thrown off course. About to turn 30, she's working in a coffee shop for an affable boss (Laverne Cox) and making weekly trips to sleazy bars, where she feigns drunkenness and waits for ostensibly concerned men to offer help, before surprising those who take advantage (among them Adam Brody and Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Soundtracked with poppy aplomb (the orchestral version of Britney Spears's Toxic is a treat) and deviously plotted, the film risks undermining its issues by being scandalously entertaining. Yet anger bubbles beneath its bright surface and points are made forcefully, with unsisterly women also coming in for criticism. Meanwhile, Mulligan is a wildly persuasive presence at the centre, flitting between sweet and spiky and giving us ample reminders of her protagonist's pain.