10 Weird Times Actors Responded To Online Reviews

Though the Oscar-winning thriller Promising Young Woman received predominantly positive reviews after premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Variety's controversial review from the festival received renewed attention in the lead-up to this year's Academy Awards.

Many felt that reviewer Dennis Harvey's tone implied that he felt star Carey Mulligan wasn't attractive enough to play the vengeful protagonist Cassie, saying that she "wears her pickup-bait gear like bad drag; even her long blonde hair seems a put-on."

Many critics and fans fought Mulligan's corner before she eventually chimed in herself, saying of Harvey's review, "It felt like it was basically saying that I wasn't hot enough to pull off this kind of ruse." She added:

"I think that in criticising or bemoaning the lack of attractiveness on my part in a character, it wasn't a personal slight... But it made me concerned that - in such a big publication - that an actress' appearance can be criticised and that can be accepted as completely reasonable criticism."

For their part, Variety issued an apology at the top of the review for Harvey's "insensitive language," a decision which itself sharply divided critics, many of whom felt that the publication kotowed to a movie star's sensibilities.

Harvey meanwhile declared himself "appalled to be tarred as a misogynist," and maintains that Mulligan mischaracterised the context of his comment.