Last night while I was doing the dishes, I was thinking about the review I would write after hate watching Do Revenge. It was going to go something like, “Reviewing a Netflix movie is like reviewing a Safeway Samosa. It feels mildly in poor taste, because the thing only just barely resembles what it’s supposed to represent, and everyone already has a pretty good idea of how mediocre it is as a facsimile. What’s the point on dunking on this imposter of a movie, lurching through life as if it were an actual movie that people would willingly seek out and not something that sneaks into their peripherals while they are cooking dinner during an NPR pledge drive week when you can’t just listen to the radio.” Something like that.
I put it off, because this dark comedy about high school (pretty bait for me) runs a little over two hours and I, friends, have a humble bedtime on weeknights. But someone clever had done a Buzzfeed piece doing a side-by-side of all the 90s movie fashion that Do Revenge took inspiration from and suddenly I found myself sitting on the couch with Wife to the dulcet tones of grunge rock as this beautiful movie started rolling. And how could it hurt me? Maya Hawke? Riverdale? Dash of Dash and fucking Lily, that Euphoria boyfriend?
The rest is spoilers, so meet me after the jump.
Wife likes the lack of resolution for romantic plots (despite the end credit scenes) and the total lack of parents. The twist of Drea’s own complicity in the creation of Eleanor made Drea a more complex and less innocent victim character for Wife, that her cruelty could be so casual that she didn’t even remember doing it when it is recited to her face. The twist obviously gives Eleanor so much more as a character, because it makes her conflicted and complex, but it also does something cool to her plot engine, because while Drea’s revenge has a finite but frustrated end point, Eleanor has no plan for how she is going to ultimately ruin her enemy. When Max does not receive his comeuppance the second time ’round, Eleanor offers to try again, and it’s not entirely clear whether she means it or if she’s already planted the seeds of the plan’s own destruction in a whole school year’s worth of plots. Does she change her mind because of the confrontation at the birthday party? But if that’s the turning point, then it means that her charade is not a charade when she’s surprised by her newfound friend’s kindness, which is neat. But if she never intended to change her mind and is actually playing a role at the birthday party, acting hurt, then she’s playing such a long, long game in terms of bringing Drea’s life down at the end of year party. In which case, her sense of relief at the destruction of Drea is constantly in need of satiation, which vibes with the theme of unquenchable thirst for vengeance that we identify with Drea, not Eleanor, all along.
Rish Shah and Talia Ryder are two actors that I could not have really told you anything about previous to tonight, but after having seen Ms Marvel, I can’t get Shah out of my head and Ryder’s movie credit in the completely random Master in Amazon received a review in HOTS back in March. Their subplots are worthy of this horny movie which features approximately two “adults” and depicts every teenager as a 30 year old. Our running theory is that the casting prevents any parents from being shown on screen because they would end up looking more like older siblings than moms and dads, which is the only possible problem with Buffy the Vampire Slayer on screen, Revenge Mommy forgive me for my blasphemy.
Having Wife mutter the name of every track on this playlist and whisper, “Those outfits are insane,” in literally every scene was worth the entirety of admission. I cannot recommend this more highly.
