Netflix’s Do Revenge stars Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes on acting in a high school comedy, morality and fake woke men
- A comedy about two girls taking down their high school foes, Do Revenge attracted its lead actresses despite them thinking they were done making teen movies
- Reminiscent of ’90s films like Clueless, the comedy tackles complex issues like working through teenage trauma, and toxic masculinity, in an accessible way
“There is truly no one scarier than a teenage girl,” says writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who puts that premise to the test in her second feature, Do Revenge, a barbed Gen Z black comedy starring Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke.
Streaming now on Netflix, Do Revenge stars Mendes as Drea, the typical high school popular girl, and Hawke as Eleanor, the awkward girl. The two meet at tennis camp and make a pact, Strangers on a Train-style: each girl will take down the other’s enemies so they can both claim plausible deniability while watching their entitled tormentors go down in flames.
Machiavellian scheming ensues in this nimble two-hander, against a colourful backdrop that is reminiscent of 1990s teen movies like Clueless, Cruel Intentions and Jawbreaker – movies that greatly inspired Robinson.
There are moments of connection and vulnerability, with the co-conspirators becoming fast friends and then bitter frenemies as their vengeance quest careers out of control.
