MovieChat Forums > Promising Young Woman (2020) Discussion > The most unrealistic part of this movie....

The most unrealistic part of this movie...

posted 4 years ago by NiteOwlMassacre (1)
9 replies | jump to latest

I don't think the director has any idea what medical school is like. Like most medical schools don't even have dorms and there isn't a partying or frat-type culture because it's so damn stressful. Just studying 24/7 and very little sleep. I've seen former party animals from high school and college have their hair turn gray once they hit medical school. If there's any drinking it's probably a coping mechanism. A lot of students live off campus because they're married or have families by the time they enter medical school. Becoming a practicing pediatrician or anesthesiologist like Ryan and Al by age 30 is pretty unlikely.

When Madison mentions "you know what it was like" and starts talking about all the parties and blacking out, there's no way anyone could get through med school doing that. Pretty sure they just applied what sticks to Playboy's Top Party Schools list for undergrad at schools like Arizona State and Cal State Chico and just applied a "one-size fits all" approach to post-secondary education.

Allowed myself suspense of disbelief because it was a great film otherwise.

[–] Poozer91 (610) 4 years ago

True. Another part that was unrealistic or just flat out made no sense was Madison giving Cassie the evidence of Nina's rape.
1.) Why would they send it to Madison? She could easily blackmail any of those guys in the future.
2.) What purpose did it serve sending it to her?
3.) Why did Madison keep it with her all those years?
4) Why would she give the video to Cassie, who tormented her for days, by making her think she may have been sexually assaulted?

It just seemed completely out of character and did not really make to much sense in the movie.

[–] Alex (1504) 4 years ago

Dude's were drunk at a frat party.
His best man filmed it on a phone and sent it to EVERYONE in their circle, not just Madison.

[–] Poozer91 (610) 4 years ago

Exactly. Even if you were drunk, you would have to be incredibly stupid to do anything like that. You rape a fellow student and decide to record the crime and send it to people in your social circle, essentially setting yourself up to get screwed if you ever have a falling out with them.

[–] moviechatterer (15688) 4 years ago

people are more social media aware these days.

But is does illustrate how drunk frat boys would not even see anything wrong with it.

[–] gantz8596 (203) 4 years ago

1&2) It's actually a pretty common thing. There are some real-life examples where sexual assaults got uncovered because of recording that was widely shared. Teens are stupid, drunk teens? Even more.

3) It was explained in the movie that she kept all of her phones, for all the pictures and videos on them.

4) She was ashamed. After all the excuses she gave Cassie, and then she got a taste of how it felt. Giving Cassie the recording is her way to "redeem" herself, but it's more like she just doesn't want to be involved anymore, she felt that by giving the recording making her "even".

[–] WileyJack (158) 4 years ago

Maybe it was “great” as in “entertaining”, but the entire film was awash with inconsistencies just as bad as the medical school misconception you mentioned. It’s just bad writing in general. It was as if every character in the movie was thinking and behaving at a middle school level, and it took me out of practically every scene. I was able to predict every twist and turn, save one. I thought Ryan was going to show up at the bachelor party and rescue Cassie.

There’s a decent revenge movie in there, somewhere, but in this case, they swung and missed.

[–] noveltylibrary65 (200) 4 years ago

Totally agree and I thought the same. I thought it was more like they were talking about high school or freshman college. Especially hearing "we were just kids" more than once.

[–] gantz8596 (203) 4 years ago

Yeah, I really don't know why the writer chooses med school as the background story. Maybe to justified Cassie dressed as a nurse at the end?

But I think it works. Most of the audience wouldn't know what you know about how it is in med school.

The unrealistic part for me was the final plan for Cassie, the bachelor party. Way too many things can go wrong.

1. What if some of the guys refused the drink she brought?
2. What if the dude refused to go upstairs?
3. What if he refused the handcuffs?
4. And after all that, what if he just didn't Kill her?

[–] Falcon868890 (37) 10 months ago

I agree, and I attended medical school a long time ago, but I can't imagine things have changed that much. There was no "frat boy culture"; there were no frats. Little if any hard partying; orgies unheard of. Nor do medical students regard themselves as "kids"; most are well aware that bad behavior of the sort described could end their budding careers. The time spent studying was all-encompassing. I don't think the writer did any investigation into what medical school is like at all.

It's also very unlikely that two childhood friends would attend the same medical school at the same time, like Cassie and Nina, and, apparently, Al and Joe. Possible, just not likely. And, as you said, they were too young to have finished training.

This was just a little too much disbelief more me to suspend, but I did like Carey Mulligan's performance.