What do you get when you combine the black comedy of Heathers, the sharp wit of Mean Girls, and the acid-tongued camp of Jawbreaker? You probably wind up with something like Jennifer Kaytin Robinson‘s Do Revenge. The Netflix film stars Camila Mendes (Riverdale) as Drea, the queen bee of her tony high school. But when Drea’s boyfriend Max (Euphoria‘s Austin Abrams) leaks their sex tape to the whole school, Drea is ready to take revenge. She recruits nerdy transfer student Eleanor (Stranger Things star Maya Hawke) and they agree to take a Strangers on a Train-style approach to enacting one another’s revenge. While Eleanor targets Max (thanks to a classic high school movie makeover), Drea promises to tackle mean girl Carissa (Ava Capri), who spread a nasty rumor about Eleanor.
There’s a lot to like in this trailer: unhinged teenage drama, a dreamy pastel color palette, and a roasting of faux-woke male allyship. It’s been a while since we’ve had a razor-sharp teen comedy that isn’t afraid to go dark, and this generation is definitely due one of their own. Paramount+ recently tried to make their own with Honor Society, but the film doesn’t quite reach the heights of its ’90s teen inspirations.
Do Revenge also has the perfect director in Robinson, who created MTV’s canceled-too-soon campus revenge series Sweet/Vicious and co-wrote Thor: Love and Thunder. In addition to directing, Robinson co-wrote Do Revenge with Celeste Ballard (Space Jam: A New Legacy). Robinson previously directed Netflix’s female friendship comedy Someone Great.
Hopefully the writing will live up to the premise and style of the trailer. After all, aren’t we overdue for a campy teen comedy with a distinctly queer aesthetic? Let us live!
Do Revenge premieres on September 16 on Netflix.
(featured image: Netflix)
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