I've seen many movies similar to this - the biggest and most popular recent one being Promising Young Woman - that have invoked the modern day revamp of rape-revenge flicks. Sometimes focusing on teenagers, Sometimes young women.
The film uses plot points from the ABC series Dietland, the more lighthearted feminist queer comedy Itty Bitty Titty Commitee and the heightened world of PYW.
And have made an unoriginal, piss-poor attempt at creating something interesting and thought-provoking.
The characters here are wafer thin cardboard cutouts and box checkers designed to make you feel sympathy for them, cheer for them or at the least find them charming and inspirational. That promise is not delivered.
Mark Vanderhill whines about women and minorities being "superstars by default"
Sadly, that's exactly whom you're supposed to root for. POC protagonists who should indeed bring an interesting depth, yet are thinly layered, along with the main antagonists.
It basically boils down to: men are bad, toxic assholes and the women are traumatised angry victims who resort to violence and intimidation.
What's upsetting is that these things are really happening to women all over the world. To see these complex issues watered down yet again is disappointing.
It's no good to just shut down sexist behaviour as soon as you see it. There has to be an exploration as to why these men are the way they and try to prevent it in future.
