Looking for a movie that will give you the satisfying resolution of “I had fun” afterwards? This dark comedy movie”Do revenge” got you totally covered. About the movie title, grammatical error? I think not, however you need to see the movie to completely understand the context.
While there are so many Easter eggs from the 90’s and 2000’s scattered in the movie , it’s more of a modernized “mean girls” with elements from “clueless “(1995)
Jennifer Kaytlin Robinson’s “Do revenge” is based on “ strangers on a train” except here the motive is not homicide but humiliation.
Starring the Netflix queens Maya Hawke and Camilla Mendes as the lead characters in addition to other notable characters, it humorously tackles the issues of sexism, misogyny, classism , all these while keeping the viewers satirically amused.
Maya Hawke starring as Eleanor and Camilla Mendes as Drea both have a personal vendetta and want revenge that wouldn’t be traced back to them- Drea’s nudes is supposedly leaked by her elite boyfriend Max as seen in the beginning , this brings her down in the social chain of her school , Rosehill and worst of all cost her the opportunity of attending Yale which she has been obsessed with for the longest time. Eleanor on the other hand wants to get back at the girl who outed her few years back -while the supposed girl is Carissa that also attends their school, we’re in for a shocker as there is a plot twist .
Drea and Eleanor develops a budding friendship as they decide to do each other’s revenge, “I’ll do yours if you do mine”. They have a pretty good emotional connection for a lesbian girl and a straight girl and yes for my queers ,Sorry to burst your bubbles but they never became a “thing”,you’d agree with me it would have been a bit cliché.
The amazing part of this movie is the many plot twists that occurs right after Eleanor’s supposed revenge plan was executed by drea and it was Eleanor’s turn to get back at Max, Drea’s elite misogynistic ex that supposedly leaked her nudes ,which even severes the girls’ relationship at a point.
The unpredictability of this movie is the highlight and will definitely keep you glued.
The characterization is very enticing as there are many familiar faces from Netflix, Camilla Mendes from Riverdale ,Maya Hawke from Stranger things, Austin Abrams from Euphoria and a host of other notable characters famous for their roles in other Netflix shows. This is enough motivation to see this movie for a lot of people.
Despite being set in Miami, the highschool setting is something straight out of a New England country, it has catchy pop based soundtrack chipped in at appropriate timing and on top of that the costume design is top notch.
The show was however way too chaotic as at some point, there was a lot going on with characters that one would be lost with the flow , if care is not taken.
Many will argue but the sex-straight relationship representation is unrealistic to a point, especially when they have such a connection as seen in Drea and Eleanor.
It also seemed that the characters especially Camilla ,were performing under their capabilities, I really don’t know to reconcile that.
The whole satiric idea of the movie is the combat against misogyny, bigotry and illiberalism as Max is adequately given his due at the end and although people consider issues such as misogyny, gender affirmation, chauvinism, sexual orientation and relationships,etc as unimportant and too “Gen Z “, these are real issues battling our society and it’s lovely how Netflix buttresses them.
How women are treated in cases like this is also brought to light as Drea suffers the whole weight of the sex scandal while max was condoled and almost received plaudits ,thanks to the fake show he put on.
Do revenge is very stylish and entertaining to watch, I personally enjoyed it more than I thought I would because ,you know I thought it would be a highschool cliché disaster with good characterization, and you’re probably already thinking same. But it isn’t nearly that , it’s a gratifiable watch.