Do Revenge — Film Review
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware of the movie that the internet has been raving about all weekend. Paying homage to just about every teen movie from the ’90s and ’00s, is Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s Do Revenge, now on Netflix.
Released on Friday September 16, Do Revenge quickly became the hot-topic of discussion (especially on gay twitter). Not to mention, it quickly rose to the top spot as Netflix’s #1 movie worldwide for a moment — at least until The Day Before reclaimed it.
Do Revenge is a timely take on a timeless narrative — teenage revenge — this almost dream-like world of pretty pastels and perfect, cookie-cutter people, takes place upon a picturesque private school campus in a very wealthy community of Miami.
At the center of this world is recently-fallen queen bee, Drea Torres (Camila Mendes), who sparks an unlikely friendship with Eleanor (Maya Hawke) after her world is turned upside down. Prior to her sudden fall from queendom, Drea carefully calculated her gradual rise to her position as Rosehill’s It-Girl. She had it all — the perfect pretty-boy boyfriend, Max (Austin Adams), and the hot, rich friends with enough talent and status to help her fame takeoff. But Drea isn’t exactly like her friends; while she may look the part, unlike the majority of her peers, Drea doesn’t come from wealth.
In order to fit in, and climb to the throne of popularity, she had to make herself. She wasn’t able to walk right into the picture-perfect life, she had to build it herself. After years of her “hard work”, it all comes crashing down at the end of her junior year when a seemingly private video she sent to Max is leaked to the entire school, going viral overnight. She’s certain it was Max who leaked, but countered by his claims of being hacked, her so-called friends side with Max and suddenly drop her.
Drea then spends the summer before her senior year working at a tennis camp, where she forms an unlikely friendship with Eleanor. Upon meeting, the two girls are instantaneously trauma-bonded as they console each other by sharing their own experiences with destructive people from their pasts — only to realize they have more in common than what meets the eye.
When Eleanor reveals she will transferring to Drea’s prestigious high school, Rosehill, for the upcoming year, the girls quickly realize they just might be the answer to each other’s call…for revenge. Since Eleanor is new, no one will know they’re friends, hatching the perfect plan; they realize they can do the other’s revenge without anyone realizing they’re connected. A fool-proof plan.
As their elaborate scheme ensues, inevitable, yet unexpected twists and turns unravel, testing the strength, and validity, of Drea and Eleanor’s revenge-ship — and honestly, what kind of teen revenge movie can exist without hijinks and plot twists?
What really holds this movie together overall is the tone — between the quippy, self-aware dialogue, incredibly timeless needle drops, and visual aesthetic of set and costume design — the movie has the potential to hold up very well over time. The narrative tracks as a wildly bizarre, yet carefully constructed teen movie storyline, without the verbal restrictions of its predecessors — which is to no fault at all to the film.
It’s enjoyable because it’s bizarre. And the green-light for endless cussing is one thing that makes the movie even better, in my personal opinion, completely changing the tone and creating an air of relatability to a place that is most likely not as relatable to most viewers — unless there are more wealthy kids and prestigious schools than I think, which is a possibility.
There is also a sense of self-awareness of the era we’re living in: the retro-inspired lifestyle, the current cultural obsession with ’90s style and aesthetic, along with several touch-points on current topics of societal discussion, such as toxic masculinity, queerness and fluidity (and with that comes homophobia), the endless evolution of bullying, and the cultivation of a person’s image based on appealing the masses.
Above all else, Do Revenge is undoubtedly a Gen Z homage to the movies that walked so this movie could run. I’m talking nods to several cult classics over the last 30 years — Clueless, Mean Girls, Heathers, John Tucker Must Die, Cruel Intentions, and many, many more — with quick-witted dialogue and tone that reminds me of other notable teen movies such as Booksmart, Juno, Lady Bird, and Edge of Seventeen. Not to mention, the story pays homage to a classic-classic, Hitchcock’s adaptation of Strangers on a Train, to which Eleanor can be seen reading in the first 15 minutes.
Personally, I fell rather quickly for this movie — already clocking in three or four viewings (no judgements, please). Do Revenge is chock full of witty, lovable characters, incredible performances, that familiar bizarreness of teen movie narratives, a fantastic score and wonderful needle drops, and of course, a queer love storyline that is the least problematic part of the movie. It’s safe to say, my boxes have been checked by this one.
PSA: If “Silk Chiffon” by MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers is playing in the background of a queer scene, many hearts will be won. Also, shout-out to the Women in Music Part III t-shirt that Maya Hawke is wearing in the beginning, and shout-out to Este Haim who co-composed the score. Yes, I love HAIM. And MUNA. And Phoebe Bridgers. Thank you.
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