Review: Netflix's 'Do Revenge' is best when bitter, not sweet

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Do Revenge
3 out of 5 Stars
Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Writers: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Celeste Ballard
Starring: Maya Hawke, Camila Mendes, Austin Abrams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Talia Ryder, Sophie Turner
Genre: Comedy
Rated: TV-MA

Studio Synopsis: After a clandestine run-in, Drea (Alpha, fallen it girl played by Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (beta, new alt girl played by Maya Hawke) team up to go after each other’s tormentors. "Do Revenge" is a subverted Hitchcock-ian dark comedy featuring the scariest protagonists of all: teenage girls.

Review: I don’t know that “Hitchcock-ian” (subverted or not) would be how I would describe “Do Revenge.” Yes, the film’s narrative was inspired by “Strangers on a Train,” but beyond a few tennis scenes and the lead characters agreeing to kill someone for the other person, there isn’t much Hitchcock here. “Do Revenge” feels closer to the film’s other major influence: ‘90s cinema. The ties to films like “Clueless,” “Ten Things I Hate About You,” and “Cruel Intentions” (films that were also loosely inspired by classic texts) is obvious with the obvious difference that unlike those films, “Do Revenge” is a Netflix film that isn’t toned down for a PG-13 rating.

If the frequent use of a variety of four-letter words is a showstopper for you, “Do Revenge” probably won’t work for you on a variety of levels as the movie features frank conversations about sex, drug use, gender issues, and whatnot. Some would probably describe it as “woke,” but the truth is that it is simply more realistic. Like it or not.

As a teen in the 1990s, I saw my share of the films that influenced “Do Revenge.” Many of those films were inspired by films from the 1980s. I was very much a “Pretty in Pink,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Breakfast Club,” or “Heathers” kind of teen. Films where the outcast characters played a larger role in the narrative rather than simply being clichés and easy jokes.

In that sense, “Do Revenge” is far more inclusive. In its world, being different is a badge of honor. As long as you as the right kind of different. High school will always be a haven where arrogance and privilege run wild. Why? Because there will always be a “in crowd” and that requires the existence of the “out crowd.”

Our protagonist, Drea (Camila Mendes) is in danger of dropping from popularity to notoriety when a sexually explicit video intended for her boyfriend (Austin Abrams) is leaked to the entire school. To save her reputation, Drea decides to team up with Eleanor (Maya Hawke), an outsider who just transferred to her school and comes with her own axe to grind.

Narcissism runs wild in “Do Revenge.” Cruelty comes in many different flavors. And popularity is all about image and spin. It helps if you are wealthy sand male (a theme also explored in the less-acidic teen comedy "Honor Society"). Same as it ever was.

I love the cast. I never watched “Riverdale,” but Mendes nails her role as the unstoppable alpha girl who either wins or she loses. There’s no second place or participation trophy. Hawke initially plays a character that is like her role as Robin in “Stranger Things” (she’s one of my favorite aspects of the later seasons). Fortunately, the script takes Eleanor in a different direction. I absolutely hate Abrams, his characters are the James Spader roles of his generation, a terrible person in an incredibly attractive shell. And I’ll forever be a fan of Talia Ryder. We stood together outside of a Sundance Film Festival screening of “Minari.” We hardly interacted. I saw “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” a day or two later. Wow, what a film (more timely than ever), and those performances from Ryder and Sidney Flanigan!

So, it might surprise you as much as it surprised me that I didn’t particularly enjoy “Do Revenge.” It’s not the twist, which probably should have hit me a little harder than it did. I don’t think it’s the meanness. High school is brutal. It might be the final act where hard lessons are learned and somehow that makes everything okay. Justice is served. But justice is rarely served and most of “Do Revenge” seems to understand that.

Maybe it is more realistic that Duckie (Jon Cryer) in “Pretty in Pink” doesn’t get to be with Andie (Molly Ringwald). But in the real world, Duckie also doesn’t get to be with a mysterious blonde who literally comes out of nowhere (deus ex femina). He goes to the dance alone and he leaves on his own.

Maybe I’m just too bitter for happy endings.