The Best Revenge of All: Unmasking the Hidden Enemy (Spoilers)

There’s no way I can think about “revenge in cinema” without thinking of Promising Young Woman, released in 2020. The story follows Cassie, a young woman who used to be a top medical student until an event involving her best friend derailed her career. She now lives with her parents and works at a café, but at night she leads a double life, seeking revenge against men who take advantage of intoxicated women.

More specifically, Cassie’s friend Nina was the victim of a gang sexual assault at a college party. The trauma was so severe that she ultimately took her own life, while the perpetrators didn’t even receive a reprimand from the university authorities. This is why Cassie decides to take matters into her own hands and carry out a plan of revenge against other men who also pretend to be “harmless.” Her “technique” is to pose as drunk so that these men take her back to their homes. There, she essentially scares them enough that they will probably think twice before trying to abuse an intoxicated woman again.

The men Cassie encounters appear kind, considerate, eager to help her—even to protect her. They may even believe that image themselves, but the point is precisely that they use this façade so women in vulnerable situations will trust them, allowing them to exploit that vulnerability. In this sense, the essence of the “nice guy” (doing good things to get something in return—attention from a woman or sexual benefit) is shown in a negative light, revealing its most extreme version.

One of the film’s greatest achievements in portraying this type of character is the development of a specific one: Ryan. He is a former university classmate of Cassie’s whom she runs into by chance at the café where she works. He tells her he had a crush on her back in college and asks her out. Because of the trauma surrounding her friend’s experience, Cassie is extremely distrustful, but little by little, he gains her confidence, and they begin a relationship. For most of the film, he seems like the perfect man: kind, respectful, funny, non-threatening, attentive, patient—everything you could think of.

However, we later learn that Ryan was present the night Nina was assaulted by a group of classmates. While he didn’t take part in the act, his voice can be heard laughing in a video of the incident. He clearly did nothing to stop what was happening and never reported the perpetrators. He even remained friends with them years later.

This plot twist is powerful for several reasons. Firstly, because it exposes the fact that even men who seem harmless and present themselves as such can, in reality, be predators in one way or another—or accomplices to other men who are.

Secondly, and no less importantly, because of the actor chosen to play this role. Bo Burnham, best known as a comedian, embodies many traits we tend to associate with non-toxic masculinity—exactly what Ryan appears to represent at first. This makes the revelation of his true character even more shocking.

In this way, the film uses our prior perceptions of certain actors to make its message hit even harder. There was a clear intention to cast well-known actors whose previous roles had been positively received—and to have them perform in ways that remind us of the characters that made us like them in the first place. For example, Adam Brody charmed many viewers in The O.C., Max Greenfield did the same with his lovable role in New Girl, Christopher Mintz-Plasse seemed like a harmless nerd in Superbad, and Chris Lowell was incredibly sweet in Glow.

These familiar, friendly, and beloved faces reinforce the story’s revenge narrative. These hidden enemies are everywhere, and Cassie wants to eliminate them. Tragically, her ultimate act of revenge does succeed—Nina’s attackers end up in prison—but not before Cassie herself is murdered. She gives her life to fulfill her final act of love for her best friend.

It’s truly a great film, and I wish I could go back in time and watch it for the first time all over again.

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