If you’re questioning the grammatical structure of the title of Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s new film, “Do Revenge,” Camila Mendes’s Drea — who coins the term in the pic — doesn’t give a fuck. As we see in a newly released trailer for the Netflix feature, Drea is too busy cooking up ways of getting back at her boyfriend, who has seemingly made public an intimate video of her and left her feeling humiliated.
When 17-year-old Drea meets new transfer student Eleanor (Maya Hawke) — who has discovered she now attends the same school as bully Carissa (Ava Capri), who started a rumor about Eleanor being predatory towards other girls at age 13 — the two form an unlikely friendship to aid one another in exacting each other’s revenge against their respective tormentors. As the trailer shows, Drea is amused by Eleanor’s perhaps-a-little-too-intense desire for vengeance, commenting that she’s “giving off some serious Glenn Close in ‘Fatal Attraction’ energy.” Or “Glennergy,” as Eleanor quips.
The dark comedy clearly isn’t taking itself too seriously, with Drea’s boyfriend, Max (Austin Abrams), starting up “The Cis-Hetero Men Championing Female Identifying Students League” while on his apology tour. Drea bangs her head against a wall at the all-too-transparent announcement, while he receives applause.
Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson — who also co-wrote with Celeste Ballard, one of her “Sweet/Vicious” collaborators — “Do Revenge” is the filmmaker’s sophomore feature, following 2019’s “Someone Great,” also for Netflix. She is also the creator of much-loved but short-lived series “Sweet/Vicious,” about two teenage girls who turn vigilante to take revenge on rapists and abusers on their college campus. Robinson’s other credits include the “Thor: Love and Thunder” screenplay, and she served as a consulting producer on Marvel’s “Hawkeye.”
Mendes has been a regular on The CW’s teen drama “Riverdale” since its 2017 premiere. Her other credits include feature film “Palm Springs,” while “Stranger Things” star Hawke also appeared in Netflix teen horror flick “Fear Street: Part One – 1994.”
“Do Revenge” premieres on Netflix September 16.
