What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2022
Where’s it showing? Netflix
Co-written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Thor: Love and Thunder) and Celeste Ballard (Space Jam: A New Legacy), Robinson directs this dark high school comedy about two mismatched young women at a posh school who make a pact to carry out revenge on one another’s bullies.
Drea (Camila Mendes) was on top of her world—a high school A-lister dating the king of the school, Max (Austin Abrams), but when a sex tape leaks and she blames her boyfriend, she quickly goes from princess to pariah. Enter Eleanor (Maya Hawke), a wallflower transfer, who encounters her old bully, Carissa (Ava Capri), who started a nasty rumor at summer camp years ago that ruined Eleanor’s life. Drea and Eleonor work together to take down the meanies … but what if they become meanies in the process?
If you’re a fan of Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, and the like, this homage to teenage nastiness is on point. Robinson and Ballard serve up witty dialogue and a twisty plot that slyly winks at cliches of the genre while adding contemporary social commentary. The leads are terrific—you’ll hate Abrams as Max, feel sympathy for Hawke as Eleonor, and pray for Mendes as Drea to learn her lesson. (118 min.) Δ
This article appears in Oct 6-16, 2022.