History YMMV / PromisingYoungWoman

* CatharsisFactor: [[spoiler:Seeing Al be exposed for not just Nina's rape but mroe specifically Cassie's murder--and that that means both Ryan and Joey each likely get exposed for their parts too--is immensely satisfying. This is especially because Cassie even though it's beyond the grave still gets both her revenge and exactly what she wanted too.]]

** The film's ending features the best use of Juice Newton's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzGMEfbnAw Angel of the Morning]]" since ''{{Film/Deadpool}}''.

* CatharsisFactor: [[spoiler:Seeing Al be exposed for not just Nina's rape but mroe specifically Cassie's murder--and that that means both Ryan and Joey each likely get exposed for their parts too--is immensely satisfying. This is especially because Cassie even though it's beyodn the grave still gets both her revenge and exactly what she wanted too.]]

*** [[spoiler: Though, there are some that would argue this is the point; that rape isn't taken seriously, but murder is. This lead others to question why the film needed to be empowering purely because of the subject matter, when other acclaimed films about tough subject matter aren't given the same scrutiny.]]

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Bo Burnham as Ryan surprised a lot of people by twisting his usual persona in a compelling way, perfectly capturing how Ryan is both a genuinely nice and charming guy and [[spoiler: someone who saw something horrific happen and did nothing and honestly doesn't understand that he did anything wrong even years later and treats it as, at worst, a youthful mistake, showing how even sincerely likable people can fall victim to the traps of rape culture]]. Many reviewers have said his performance is crucial to the films' theme.

** [[TheGhost We never see her]], but the tragedy of Nina's story comes through crystal clear anyway. A college student at the top of her class on the way to becoming a doctor, all of that changes when she's raped. Despite there being plenty of witnesses, [[BystanderSyndrome none of them intervene or stand up for her later on]], with even her friend Madison SlutShaming her over the incident. Nina's attempts to get justice against her rapist fail when an AmoralAttorney bullies her into dropping the case. A broken Nina even drops out due to all of her suffering, and is eventually DrivenToSuicide.
** Cassie's parents are rather pitiable. Years ago their daughter dropped out of college to help Nina through the pain of her rape. Despite Cassie having great promise in the field, she never resumes her education, and lives as a BasementDweller for years, with her mom and dad forced to see their daughter wasting her life, the former at one point being unable to contain her feelings and blowing up at Cassie over all this. Later, when Cassie's finally on the way to moving on, her father notes how much they've missed her all this time, and notes that they loved Nina like a daughter, showing that they grieved over her tragedy as well. Making matters even worse, [[spoiler: not long after [[HopeSpot Cassie's seemingly getting better]], she winds up being killed]] just adding more misery to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas' lives.

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would either not make it as bad as it seems or [[EasilyForgiven allow for anybody to say it's in the past and doesn't matter anymore]] and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment and time passed]] is something he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood legitimately fails to realize]] when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear that [[spoiler:Al could get hurt]]. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him—as well as still wanting to protect Al and legit thinking Cassie was wrong—and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would either not make it as bad as it seems or [[EasilyForgiven allow for anybody to say it's in the past and doesn't matter anymore]] and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment and time passed]] is something he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood legitimately fails to realize]] when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear that [[spoiler:Al could get hurt]]. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would either not make it as bad as it seems or [[EasilyForgiven allow for anybody to say it's in the past and doesn't matter anymore]] and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment]] is something he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood legitimately fails to realize]] when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear that [[spoiler:Al could get hurt]]. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would not make it as bad as it seems and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment]] is something he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood legitimately fails to realize]] when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear that [[spoiler:Al could get hurt]]. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would not make it as bad as it seems and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment]] is something he EvilCannotComprehendGood legitimately fails to realize]] when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear that [[spoiler:Al could get hurt]]. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would not make it as bad as it seems and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment]] is something he legitimately fails to realize when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear that [[spoiler:Al could get hurt]]. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.

%%* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Ryan's character is meant to be a play on the "Nice Guy" persona that many woman in real life have encountered. A "nice guy" presents himself as a well meaning suitor who just wants a chance with the object of his desires. All goes well until he's either rejected or doesn't get what he wants. In this case, [[spoiler:Cassie watches the video of Nina being raped and sees that Ryan was a witness to it. She refuses to forgive him and threatens to release the video if he tries to stop her from from getting revenge. Ryan calls her a "fucking failure" in retaliation.]] Cassie and the audience both come to realize he never respected her. He just wanted her. Nicely written trope, but not only would this be grouped up with the other alternate character interpretation, it doesn't actually apply to this trope. This trope isn't for cases where a character is an alternate interpretation of an archetype, but when audiences can view a character's actions/thoughts in a different manner. This writing is good and could probably be put somewhere on the main page, but it doesn't belong here.


* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

** While Ryan's meant to represent the unsavoriness and unexpectedness of the "Nice Guy" archetype, whether what he says or thinks is genuine could still be given an alternate filter. For example, ValuesDissonance could account for him thinking [[spoiler:everybody being younger, dumber and drunk at the time when Nina was attacked would not make it as bad as it seems and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it never having been okay at all regardless of poor judgment]] is something he legitimately fails to realize when confronted]]. His also responding badly to [[spoiler:Cassie planning to personally confront Al about it]] could be viewed as his seeing her as dangerous and unstable because it's the deviant approach to the problem and he's only reacting out of fear. His also [[spoiler:covering for Al when he suspects Cassie was killed]] could be viewed as him not knowing how to process the idea and it not seeming real to him and his reactions [[spoiler:at the wedding when he discovers Cassie's messages and that she postmortem exposed Al for both Nina's rape and her own murder]] could be him feeling guilty for not having done or realized how wrong he was until [[YouAreTooLate it was ultimately too late]]. It's not hard to imagine that the respectful and loving version of Ryan that he represented himself as to Cassie early on was indeed the real one and the other stuff was buried deep without resurfacing until much later.