I normally avoid watching Netflix’s original movies. None of them really pique my interest. Most of them feel like overdone plots. When I do watch them, I can’t get over the terrible teenage dialogue or the cringey-romance tropes. Do Revenge was different though. Do Revenge was different because I had no clue what I was about to get into, but the trailer looked interesting. I was also intrigued by the cast. I mean, they had some big names from other various popular media: Maya Hawke from Stranger Things, Camila Mendes from Riverdale, Alisha Boe from 13 Reasons Why, Johnathan Daviss from Outerbanks, and not to mention other popular names like Sophie Turner and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Despite the impressively star-studded cast, I still thought this movie would be another standard Netflix movie.
Despite my history with Netflix’s original movies, I am a sucker for cute pastel costumes, so I decided to watch anyways. The run time for the movie made me less sure of my decision to watch; I couldn’t believe that I was about to sit through a two-hour-long movie. Yet, I watched it anyway, and I am so glad I did.
Do Revenge is new and fresh, yet it doesn’t shy away from paying homage to the quintessential movies that have come before. The way the movie is advertised makes it seem like there is not much more than a surface-level storyline, but only those who are brave enough to dive in will see there is so much more.
The characters in Do Revenge are nothing but complicated and messy, but that’s part of what makes this movie so perfect. Starting the movie, we are introduced to Drea (played by Camila Mendes). The audience can figure out pretty quickly that Drea is no different than Cher Horowitz, Regina George or Sharpay Evans: she’s popular, ambitious and slightly terrifying to those around her, but her fashion sense makes you want to be her just so you can wear the same things she does. She knows what she wants, and she will get it, no matter what it takes. Drea has a seemingly perfect life. But as Drea says, “In this story, nothing is as it seems.”
Then, we meet our other main character, Eleanor. Now, Eleanor is the opposite of Drea. She’s quirky and nerdy, and struggles to make friends, besides her pet lizard of course. She seemingly keeps to herself mostly.
When these two girls meet up and become friends at tennis camp, they decide to help each other get revenge on the people that have majorly wronged them. For Drea, this is her ex-boyfriend, and for Eleanor, this is a girl who spread a rumor about her. They work together and come up with plans to take these people down. The movie is somewhat inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.”
The movie is campy and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is hilarious but dark. There is Gen Z language, but it doesn’t come across as cringey or weird. Even if you think you know where this movie is going, you don’t. The plot has the audience feeling a mesh of romance, friendship, betrayal, happiness and rage. From the moment a character shows up for the first time, to the last shot they’re in, that person is evolving in some way. You go from liking many of the characters to hating them; still, even when you hate some of them, you find yourself halfway rooting for them, because there are other characters you dislike more. The couple of plot twists in the movie are astounding. The super major twist in the movie is the type that makes your mouth drop open and requires you to rethink everything you’ve been seeing in this movie so far.
The outfits for every character are totally to die for and make sense for each character. Even when the characters were just wearing their school uniforms, I had a weird feeling of jealousy of wanting to wear the uniforms too. The outfits are a perfect mix of being trendy and unique to each character. The soundtrack in the movie is another perfect factor. You can really feel how intentional all the music choices were. With songs like “brutal” by Olivia Rodrigo and “for the girls” by Hayley Kiyoko, the soundtrack choices are a perfect addition to the overall concept of the movie. Finally, the movie paying respects to other teen movies also makes Do Revenge fantastic. There are multiple nods to movies like Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Scream, Heathers and Mean Girls.
Overall, Do Revenge nails all of the features of a good 90s/2000s teen movie. The plot dives into teenage girls, cliques, rage and of course, revenge. Even though the movie is long, every single second of it is worth it. Everything in the movie felt intentional and no scene, song, accessory or piece of dialogue felt arbitrary. The whole aesthetic of the movie is absolutely pristine. This is exactly the movie we’ve been needing.