Thriller Thursday: Psychological Thriller Weekend! (Promising Young Woman, Bad Samaritan reviews)

Whenever something has a ton of hype, my knee-jerk response is to do anything BUT that thing (read the book, see the movie, stream the show, eat at the restaurant, wear the item, etc.)... unless, of course, it really sounds amazing (in which case not doing so would be like shooting myself in the foot, and that would just be stupid).

Last weekend, Promising Young Woman (a new theatrical release, available via Amazon to rent/stream at home during the ongoing pandemic) was the must-do. It has crazy-good hype, and it's a psychological thriller (and it doesn't involve any huge explosions, superheroes, or sophomoric humor!)? Count. Me. In.

[Quick note to anyone new, here: No averting of your eyes needed; my place is, as always, a spoiler-free zone.]

Promising Young Woman doesn't waste any time getting right to the plot. It opens with a bar scene, late on what's probably a Friday night (noisy, crowded), zeroing in on a high-top with three guys--yuppies--being, well, guys (drinking, laughing... and ogling women). Eventually they spot a young woman, very drunk, sitting--at least, trying to remain upright, as she fumbles around on the slippery leather sofa--all alone.

The guys find her predicament hilarious, but agree she's nonetheless quite attractive. One of them saunters over, all gentlemanly solicitousness.

Her phone has gone AWOL, so she can't call for a ride. (Whatever will she do?!) Helpful Yuppie Dude chivalrously offers to find her a cab... and even to make sure she gets home safely. (Yeah.) En route, though, he suggests a nightcap at his flat, which--imagine that!--is just around the corner. (Mm-hmm...)

Fast-forward to Yuppie Guy's apartment, after that nightcap... where the woman is almost passed out on the bed. (That stage of drunk where you're still semi-coherent but are pretty sure you'd rather just fall asleep? She's there.) Problem? Guy doesn't wanna let her sleep it off. Correction: guy actually doesn't care if she's awake or not, he just wants to get inside her... now. 

Except... woman isn't almost-comatose. What she most definitely is, though, is furious... and Yuppie is about to regret trying to take advantage of her assumed inebriation. 

Things, in other words, are not quite what they seem, in Promising Young Woman. And from that pivotal first scene, you learn to look at things--including the young woman--in a very different way.

I'm not going to say much more... except to affirm that Carey Mulligan really is THAT DAMN GOOD in the starring role... and that this story? Is one that needed telling, and--more importantly--showing. 

With unexpected twists (duh, it's a thriller), a spot-on perfect cast (which also includes Adam Brody, Clancy Brown, Laverne Cox, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, and Alfred Molina), solid writing (Emerald Fennell, who also directed), and truly has something to say about men, women, and how quickly things can go so very wrong (for a multitude of reasons), this is not-to-miss viewing. 

____________

Also on deck (what? it was a weekend during the pandemic and a lockdown, FFS!)? Bad Samaritan (streaming on Amazon Prime), starring none other than David Tennant (of Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Bad Omens, and soooo many-other-things fame).

This one just popped up in my "you'll probably like this" lists, and, I gotta say, Amazon was not wrong.

It's a simple--and thus, entirely believable--story: a couple of young, enterprising lads (Sean and Derek) operate their own independent little valet service... and manage to land a contract with a popular downtown Portland, Oregon restaurant. 

Their deal? The fellas aren't just valets; if the owners of a nice vehicle are especially well-heeled, either Sean or Derek will--unbeknownst to the owners, obvs--speed off in said vehicle, using the "home" command on its sat-nav device, to case the joint, and possibly, to rob it... all while the occupants enjoy a fabulous dinner at the restaurant. 

Not hard to imagine this scenario going wrong, is it? A kid gets sick at dinner, maybe, causing the parents to need the car sooner than anyone expected. A lovers' tiff, perhaps, with the same result. Or, just someone who really, really wants his car RIGHT.NOW. ... and has both the money and reasons to make it A. REALLY. BIG. DEAL.

That last situation? Yeah, that's the one which finds Sean and Derek in big-time trouble... with David Tennant (in another one of the highly-effective, thoroughly-rotten-guy roles he's totally clobbered post-Dr. Who). 

As with the first film, the plot here feels both real and timely. And, more importantly, it's pretty darn smart... seeing how two ordinary, anything-but-priveleged young guys operate under normal circumstances, and then, how they cope with the craziest new reality they could never even have imagined.

____________

One thing I genuinely appreciate about both Promising Young Woman and Bad Samaritan is the scope of the films; each is small... compact, occurring within a relatively short span of time, and just day-in-the-life (of the characters) kinda stuff. There are no overwrought statements being made, no über-flashy effects, no completely-absurd sub-plots; each film has a simple story to tell, and does so, very, very well... providing legit thrills, surprises, and edge-of-(my)-seat moments, aplenty. 

There's an art to the old-fashioned thriller, and these films, well... they just get it.

I highly recommend both, for thriller/suspense fans.

~GlamKitty

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