Your mileage may vary on “Fresh.” A rom-com-horror hybrid exploring the modern dynamics of power, dating, gender, and sex via a pretty twisted allegory, it’s sure to be polarizing like its cultural predecessor, “Promising Young Woman.” As for me, I’m firmly in the pro camp: I loved “Promising Young Woman,” and I love “Fresh,” too.
From first-time feature director Mimi Cave and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn (“Ibiza”), “Fresh” follows the 20-something Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones, “Normal People”) through the hellscape of contemporary dating. When she’s not endlessly swiping through the apps or receiving unsolicited dick pics, she’s enduring awkward small talk or being negged. As she confesses to her best friend, Mollie (Jojo T. Gibbs, “Twenties”), she’s about ready to give up. But things change after a meet-cute with Steve (Sebastian Stan, “I, Tonya”) at the grocery store.
A warm, charming doctor who’s uninterested in “playing games” and looks like Sebastian Stan, Steve sweeps Noa off her feet. He seems too good to be true — and it turns out he is.
I won’t go into details, but I will say “Fresh” offers a, well, fresh perspective on the realities of dating men when you’re woman: the pressure to be pithy and cute in order to connect, as well as to avoid male anger; the commentary on your looks, positive or negative; and the constant possibility of violence. Through a truly demented premise that has strands of “Get Out,” “American Psycho,” and “Hannibal” in its DNA, the film cleverly underscores that, for women, dating can be life-or-death.
Suffice to say, Noa does have to fight for her life — and she’s also fighting a culture that views women as nothing more than slabs of meat. Although it never takes itself too seriously, “Fresh” can be added to the recent canon of stories — such as “Black Widow,” “Made for Love,” and “Jessica Jones” — that employ genre tropes to dissect misogyny and rape culture. This movie is weird, scary, fun, utterly over-the-top, and has a point to make. It leaves quite the impression.
“Fresh” is now available on Hulu.
