Do Revenge is Netflix’s hottest new teen drama comedy with protagonists Camila Mendes as Drea and Maya Hawke as Eleanor. Getting back to this film, the plot follows like most teen dramas, where a couple of teens gang up to seek revenge.
Drea is a popular and brilliant girl from Rosehill Country Day High School in Miami on scholarship. She is what you call the Regina George character of this movie, the ‘it’ girl who has got it all. Until she doesn’t.
Things start escalating when a private tape she sent to her partner Max gets leaked. This soon leads her to be the new social pariah, and this is when she ends up meeting Eleanor. Eleanor shares how she was too wronged by her partner, Clarrisa (Ava Capri), who outed her in school as the ‘icky lesbian’, which led to a lot of bullying. The two teen couple gang up to seek revenge against each other’s tormentors.
If you don’t want spoilers, this is where you stop reading. Although the plot and the scope of ‘Do Revenge‘ seem pretty generic, things take a turn when Drea realises that Eleanor had been lying to her all this while. She was the mastermind taking revenge on Drea by befriending all her friends and, in turn, making her plot her ex-girlfriend’s expulsion. Eleanor took over her life.
What is seriously wrong with the film is how they portrayed the character of Eleanor. Alongside Max and his approach to ‘progressive’ polygamy. Almost painful to watch this man rub his patriarchy all over. And like most times in real life, people believed his crap.
Eleanor, Maya Hawke from Stranger Things, was almost too sinister for a teenager who went through a rough time. Was this to alarm the audience about the aftereffects of being gruesomely bullied for one’s identity? She did not only stop by taking away all of Drea’s friends, she wanted her to lose her scholarship. She wanted Drea’s life to be practically over. Alongside
If you think I am taking it far, well yes, Eleanor rammed her car into Drea’s at one point. And somehow magically decides that she actually liked Drea’s company and helps her reveal Max’s (Austin Abrams) true identity in front of the entire school. The film ends with the couple mending their friendship to realise it was the most real one they had ever had. This is ironic as Eleanor only tells Drea her truth at the conclusion of it all. As well as the fact that she was playing her all that while. Interesting, isn’t it? But comedies aren’t comedies if they don’t have a happy ending.
In this case, the real villain is panned out to be Max, Drea’s ex, who leaked her intimate tape. Or implicitly patriarchy. Where one intimate video illegally circulated around the school made the most popular girl a social outcast. However, when Max’s racy texts with all the different girls were leaked whilst he dated Drea’s ex-best friend, Tara, he winged in the name of progressiveness. He called they had an open relationship and was cherished for his support in the community.
Making a film in this competitive climate is never easy. Thus, we should always deeply appreciate each and every individual’s contribution to making this somewhat different. Alongside Netflix maintaining their incredibly high standards with the sets and aesthetic appeal of the film, we saw some really strong characters. We saw how Camila Mendes outshined in her character and showed us her true potential, which to be honest, seems wasted in Riverdale. Primarily because she has been side-lined there. Especially with the not-so-good dialogues that keep haunting the plot of the intense series.
Maya Hawke’s character Eleanor is almost psychopathic. She follows common Hollywood tropes of being an ‘un-cool’ female who knows a lot about cars and is a lesbian. She was the one who ‘needed a make-over’ to be accepted into the popular world of Rosehill Country. That also speaks volumes about society’s unrealistic standards to make a teenager ‘fit-in’. You have to shine to be seen. Especially when one’s sexual identity becomes their defining moment.
Her character was rough around the edges and desperate for redemption. But like many other teen dramas, this film wraps the grounds of how each teenager is going through their own list of inexplicable changes and struggles. The character ends up enjoying her new friend for who she is and continues to blossom in their friendship after exposing Max.
Regardless, Do Revenge is definitely a must-watch for some cheeky entertainment. Especially if you are looking to gasp at the edge of your seats with drama. Check out the trailer here.
‘Do Revenge’ now streaming on Netflix. Find it here.
