Do Revenge

''Do Revenge'' is a 2022 American teen black comedy film directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Celeste Ballard. It stars Camila Mendes, Maya Hawke, Austin Abrams, Talia Ryder, Rish Shah, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and it is loosely inspired by Patricia Highsmith's novel '' Strangers on a Train'' and Alfred Hitchcock's film adaptation of it (1951). It was released on Netflix on September 16, 2022, and received generally positive reviews from critics.

Robinson pays homage to several 1990s high school films and other teen classics such as ''Heathers'' (1989) and ''Mean Girls'' (2004).

Plot

Drea is a popular student attending Rosehill Country Day High School, an elite private school in Miami, on a scholarship. A "conniving, selfish sociopath" who uses people to get what she wants, Drea later becomes a social outcast after an intimate video she sent to her equally popular boyfriend, Max, is leaked online. Max claims he was hacked, but Drea blames Max for the video's release and punches him in the face, ultimately leading to their break up and all of Drea's friends to abandon her.

That summer, Drea works at a tennis camp where she meets Eleanor, a shy tomboy from a wealthy background who is transferring to Rosehill in September. Eleanor tells Drea about also becoming an outcast when a false rumor spread that she forcibly kissed Carissa, another Rosehill student, at a summer camp years earlier.

Realizing they will not get justice on their own, the two plan to exact revenge on each other's enemy: Drea on Carissa and Eleanor on Max. After a makeover, Eleanor slowly infiltrates Drea's old clique of popular students, while Drea tries to get close to Carissa by working at the school farm, also befriending Russ, a slightly introvert student and Carissa's friend.

Eleanor is invited to a party thrown by Max, where she discovers he is cheating on his new girlfriend, TaraDrea's former best friend. Drea steals Carissa's keys to the farm's locked greenhouse, finding the marijuana plants and magic mushrooms that Carissa has been growing in secret.

At the school's Senior Ring Ceremony, Drea places the drugs from the greenhouse in their classmates' dinner so she can steal Max's phone to obtain evidence of his wrongdoings. She anonymously tips off the headmaster about the greenhouse, getting Carissa expelled and sent to rehab. While searching through Max's texts messages, Drea and Eleanor find photos and messages from other girls at school stretching back years.

At a school assembly, Eleanor shares Max's texts to the entire student body, but Max and Tara then pretend to be a polyamorous couple, which in turn becomes the school's latest trend. Drea is rejected from Yale, due to her declining schoolwork and Max creating a false allegation about Drea abusing him during their relationship. Spiraling emotionally, she concocts a new plan to destroy all her popular former friends at the upcoming Admissions Party, which can only be attended by those accepted by Ivy League schools.

Eleanor enjoys her new popularity and Drea's old friends, beginning a relationship with Max's twin sister Gabbi. When Max and his friends surprise Eleanor for her birthday, Drea crashes the party and nearly jeopardizes their revenge scheme. They fight, going their separate ways after Eleanor asserts that there is no evidence that Max leaked Drea's video. Gabbi overhears this and breaks up with Eleanor for taking Max's side.

Learning someone sabotaged her car at tennis camp, Drea, suspicious of Eleanor, visits Carissa at the rehab facility. Carissa reveals that Eleanor is actually "Nosey" Nora Cutler, the girl at summer camp whom Drea spread the false rumor about and outed as a lesbian; an event she had selfishly forgotten, which prompted Eleanor to change her name and undergo a rhinoplasty. Drea confronts Eleanor, who reveals she had been playing her all along, aiming to cause the same pain she endured from the rumor. Eleanor threatens to frame Drea's mother, a nurse, for drug possession if she refuses to expose her old friends at the Admissions Party. Eleanor T-bones Drea's car, sending her to the hospital, to create a sob story that earns Drea access to the Admissions Party, and tells Russ about Drea's involvement in framing Carissa's for drug possession and Max's leaked text messages. When Drea refuses to turn herself, he calls her out for being selfish and ends their budding relationship.

During the party, Eleanor pressures Drea to take ketamine with Max and friends, but Drea reveals her true identity as "Nosey Nora", but immediately regrets it and apologizes to Eleanor, who in turn apologizes to her. Their emotional reconciliation is interrupted when Max appears, having learned of their plot against him. He plans to expose them and confesses to releasing Drea's video, as he found her selfish behavior a risk to his own sociopathy, unaware that Eleanor is secretly filming his confession. The girls quickly project his confession video at the party, turning everyone against Max and tarnishing his reputation.

As a result, Max is expelled from Rosehill and his spot at Yale is offered to Drea, who rejects it. Drea apologizes to Russ and they kiss, while Eleanor reconciles with Gabbi, and Max joins a support group to address his toxic masculinity.

Cast

Production

Development and casting

On October 14, 2020, it was reported that Netflix was developing the film, then titled ''Strangers''. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson co-wrote and directed the film, citing inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's film '' Strangers on a Train'' (1951) and Taylor Swift's album ''Reputation'' (2017). In November 2020, Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke were reported to star. Additional cast members were announced in early 2021.

Filming

Principal photography was scheduled to take place in Los Angeles in early 2021, but was changed to Atlanta, Georgia, with the story taking place in Miami following a rewrite in order to accommodate Hawke's schedule, who was shooting ''Stranger Things'', as director Robinson did not want to lose either of the main actresses. Filming initially wrapped on August 7, 2021, with later stages of production occurring in August 2022 in Miami, Florida. Much of the filming took place at Oglethorpe University in suburban Atlanta.

Music

Soundtrack

Release

The film was released on Netflix on September 16, 2022.

Reception

Coleman Spilde of ''The Daily Beast'' called the film a "generation defining masterpiece", saying that "once a decade, there comes a high school comedy so stylish, so witty, and so instantly influential that it cannot be topped. Netflix's colorful new romp is that movie."; Spilde subtitled his review "Cruel Intentions", acknowledging the relationship to the 1999 film of that name and the presence of actress Sarah Michelle Gellarwho played the teen antagonist in that earlier film, tormenting the daughter of her school's headmaster, and appears as the headmaster in ''Do Revenge''. Amy Nicholson of ''The New York Times'' gave the film a B and described it as "a playful, sharp-fanged satire that feels like the '90s teen comedy hammered into modern emojis: crown, knife, fire, winky face." Matt Zoller Seitz of ''RogerEbert.com'' gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said, "The film manages to blend all of its influences into a distinctive movie that is fully committed to its vision of high school as a handsomely costumed, art-directed snake pit filled with sadists who get off on other people's pain and embarrassment."

References

External links

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{{Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

2020s American films
2020s buddy comedy films
2020s English-language films
2020s female buddy films
2020s high school films
2020s teen comedy films
2022 black comedy films
2022 films
2022 LGBTQ-related films
American black comedy films
American buddy comedy films
American female buddy films
American films about revenge
American high school films
American teen comedy films
American teen LGBTQ-related films
English-language black comedy films
English-language buddy comedy films
Films based on works by Patricia Highsmith
Films directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Films set in Miami
Films shot in Atlanta
Films shot in Miami
Films with screenplays by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Lesbian-related films
LGBTQ-related black comedy films
LGBTQ-related buddy comedy films
Netflix original films