Do Revenge Film Review

Do Revenge

High school can either be the best or worst time of your life. In Drea’s case, it’s the latter. After gaining a following of popular friends and having a handsome boyfriend Max, everything seems just fine. But then, a salacious video of Drea is leaked to the entire school. She and Eleanor (an outcast with a secret past) team up to exact ultimate payback on Max.

Positive Elements: Despite the almost constant negative choices surrounding this flick, there are moments of vulnerability. Drea and Eleanor confide in each other with the former saying “There’s this knot in my chest.” Though their scheming seems ideal, it only hurts them in the end.

Drea regrets selling out Eleanor and tearfully apologizes to her. Tara (one of Drea’s friends) comes to her aid after a significant incident. Several girls ask for forgiveness after several missteps.

Drea and Eleanor learn that while payback might be sweet, it doesn’t fully heal them. They talk about their honest feelings with each other. Other characters realize they don’t have to be defined by grades or social status.

Spiritual Content: Several girls at Drea’s school proclaim themselves to be witches. One girl is tricked into donating her wardrobe for charity. Drea calls Max "the devil."

Sensual Content: Several teens kiss passionately in multiple scenes. Drea’s salacious video is only heard, not seen (although she takes off her undergarments beforehand and the camera cuts away after that). There are allusions to similar videos as well.

The female characters all dress in revealing outfits and bikinis. Max and other male characters are shown shirtless several times too. After Eleanor receives a makeover, multiple guys ogle her. Eleanor grows close to Max’s sister Gabbi: the two kiss on a couple occasions. Teens do have sex (offscreen) and one couple engages in (implied) oral sex.

(Spoiler Warning): Max is revealed to be a womanizer due to the fact that he cheated on a few girlfriends with multiple other girls. His current partner pretends they have an open relationship so girls and boys will have a shot with Max.

Violence: Drea punches Max in the face after suspecting he leaked the video. She slaps him when he is rude to her. Some people joke about murder. A character lights a trash can on fire. Someone causes a car accident, landing the victim in the hospital.

Language: Multiple f-words are heard, along with a huge smattering of a–, b–ch, h–, p–ed, d–n, God’s name and Jesus’ name. Two c-words are spoken. There are several allusions to male and female anatomy. One character flips the middle finger.

Drugs/Alcohol: Several parties feature drugs such as cocaine and champagne. Wine is tossed back on a few occasions too. We learn a girl grew mushrooms and several people have hallucinations after digesting them. As a result, she is expelled from school. Another girl is framed for doing cocaine and ironically starts an addiction, sending her to rehab. When celebrating a victory, Drea and Eleanor chug on champagne. One character blackmails Drea into doing her bidding by threatening to get Drea’s mom fired from her job if she has drugs on her.

Other Negative Elements: As with typical high school movies, parents are largely absent from the scene. Several teens are rude, belittling and arrogant to each other. They even turn a blind eye to each other’s pain. Eleanor and Drea steal Max’s phone to leak certain texts to the entire school. Drea interrupts Eleanor’s birthday party, leaving everything in an awkward mess. She puts so much energy into ruining Max’s life that her grades slip and she gets rejected from Yale.

Eleanor isn’t innocent either. Because of the rumor that she is a lesbian leper, she didn’t eat or sleep and was sent to a treatment center. Therefore, Eleanor does her part by making a character’s life miserable.

Other characters believe one side of the story over another. This is true when Max says he was hacked when Drea’s video is leaked. He denies anything to do with it and making matters worse, creates a club supposed to respect women, but it’s to sexually exploit them instead. Drea gets put on behavioral probation after punching Max, which isn’t fair to her. A girl vomits offscreen. Two kids skip school. There’s talk of Hamilton being shut down because of an all white cast.

(Spoiler Warning): Max reveals why he leaked Drea’s video: he was using her throughout their entire relationship. Drea took him for granted, which Max uses as an excuse to get back at her. When he’s exposed at a party, he loses his temper and threatens to end Tara’s dad’s senate career, much to everyone’s shock. Max is expelled from school shortly after that.

Conclusion: Do Revenge is aptly named: the two heroines desire payback on people who have damaged their reputations. Therefore, the film presents us with some salacious sexual content, lying, backstabbing, drug addiction, and foul language in the mix. Even homosexuality makes an appearance with Eleanor liking Gabbi. There’s also illegal activities abound here too. Parents might want to watch this film first to decide if it’s appropriate for their teens.

All content problems aside, Do Revenge is a well crafted teen flick that makes throwbacks to early teen films such as Clueless, Cruel Intentions, and 10 Things I Hate About You. It’s filled with a killer soundtrack and classy outfits. The film portrays a realistic glance on bullying and sexual harassment.

In a way, viewers can relate to Drea and Eleanor: both are hurt by past regrets and want to move forward. That doesn’t excuse their bad behavior, but it gives us an insight into their pain. While Do Revenge isn’t a role model movie, it keeps you guessing. Just keep in mind

the content problems I mentioned above so you won’t be caught off guard.