"Your new vibe is high-status c***."

(If you haven't watched "Do Revenge," I'm sorry.)

Note: this post includes spoilers for the Netflix movie “Do Revenge.”

Finally. FINALLY, we have another teen movie worthy of joining the pantheon of teen movies. There hasn’t been a halfway decent teen movie since, what, 2015’s “The Duff” or 2010’s “Easy A”? (The latter being much more classic than the former, tbh.) (I guess we had “Lady Bird” in 2017 but that is a much more emotional undertaking than what I generally consider a “classic” teen movie.) (What am I forgetting???)

(But, much like the demise of the rom com, I blame Judd Apatow and “Superbad” for this loss in our culture; that’s another topic for another day.)

For those who haven’t seen it yet (and I highly recommend!), here’s a quick synopsis. And remember—spoilers!

Camila Mendes (“Riverdale”) plays Drea, the queen bee at Rosehill Academy who also happens to be on scholarship and desperate to get into Yale. When the sex tape she made for her her bf (and class president) Max (“Euphoria”’s Austin Abrams) gets leaked, he claims it wasn’t him and the rest of the popular rich kids close ranks and shut her out. Over the summer, Drea meets Eleanor (“Stranger Things”’ Maya Hawke), who is dreading transferring to Rosehill because Carissa, the girl who outed her in middle school, is a student there. That fall, Drea and Eleanor decide to team up and “do revenge” on each other’s nemeses. This of course requires Drea give a makeover to Eleanor so she can fit in with the popular crowd. But! The twist is that Drea is actually the girl who outed Eleanor (in horrible fashion) in middle school, and the whole thing has been a long con by Eleanor to get back at Drea. Drea learns her lesson the hard way and, turns out Max is a misogynistic jerk who’s sleeping with a girl in every clique and definitely did leak Drea’s sex tape. Shocking!

And because it’s on Netflix, there are definitely some raunchier lines than in your standard PG (or even PG-13) teen movie.

(Side note: why does every main character want to go to Yale? Vulture investigated.)

I’m unclear if this movie was made for people who are currently teenagers or people who were teens during the heyday of teen movies in the late ’90s/early ’00s , but I don’t care—I loved it regardless.

First, I find Camila Mendes a very compelling actress. Not necessarily like, Oscar-winning compelling, but something about her vibe is very pleasing and you kind of can’t take your eyes off of her. I watched the first few seasons of “Riverdale” (how on earth is that show still on?) and she really stole the show as Veronica imo. And her eyebrows are truly unmatched.

Next, the soundtrack!!! That Robyn song in the beginning, my god. Thank you to this movie for reminding me that “Do You Know (What It Takes)” exists. Frankly, I’m embarrassed to have forgotten.

Anyway. The soundtrack is a perfect blend of ’90s hits (so many “Clueless” references here, including a great cover of “Kids in America”) and newer tracks from Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish. And! Fatboy Slim! A clear “Cruel Intentions” reference, with a slight nod to “She’s All That.” (I always think of the prom dance scene when I hear a Fatboy Slim song, but the one in this movie is “Praise You” which was of course featured in “Cruel Intentions.”)

Third, much like “Cruel Intentions” (again), the parents are completely absent. Completely. The only adult we see in this movie is Headmaster Sarah Michelle Gellar. I love teen movies that flat-out ignore the fact that these characters are still underage and live with their parents. I’m not sure why I enjoy this so much, but I think it makes the characters seem simultaneously more mature, and also sort of reinforces that these kids are truly living in their own bubbles—teenagers are generally pretty self-absorbed as they figure out who they are. At one point in the movie, Max even refers to his clique as his “family,” which, I guess is the case since we never meet his or anyone else’s parents!

The styling! The hair! The makeup! There are so many wardrobe references to past teen movies (way, way more on this below), but this movie is just beautiful to look at. The sets have a lot going on and are full of color, and it’s just a very visually lovely movie.

Lastly, and most importantly, the movie is so genre-referential—it cheekily acknowledges when it’s veering into teen movie tropes, but it also doesn’t shy away from them. When Max’s sister Gabbi is showing Eleanor around the school, Eleanor says, “as a disciple of the ’90s teen movie, I’d be offended if I didn’t get (a tour of the various cliques),” and the resulting tour is a clear throwback to “Clueless,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” and “Mean Girls.”

“Be careful with them,” Gabbi says to Eleanor, referring to the popular group that disowned Drea. “They’re all as calculated as they are beautiful.” If that isn’t a throwback to “Don't be fooled, because she may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing, slut-faced ho-bag. But in reality, she is so much more than that. She's the queen bee.,” I don’t know what it is.

Obviously, I adore that there was still a makeover scene, even though Drea and Eleanor cheekily acknowledge that makeovers are slightly problematic. Like other iconic teen movie makeovers, Eleanor gets some new clothes, a new hair color and cut, and voila! She fits in with the rich kids. Just like Cady Heron infiltrating the Plastics in “Mean Girls”!

There are way too many easter eggs and references in this movie for me to fully capture them all, but below, I’ve tried to compile some of my favorites—many of which I caught upon a second viewing.

The Poster Font (Dirty Dancing)

I’m probably projecting here. The lowercase g’s are not remotely similar. I promise the references get better.

The Uniforms and Other Assorted Wardrobe Moments (Clueless)

The Pink Jackets (Grease)

SMG as the Headmistress

I read a NYT profile of Sarah Michelle Gellar in which she said the director asked her to play this role as if she was Kathryn Merteuil from “Cruel Intentions” as an adult. It tracks.

The Reading Choices (Cruel Intentions)

(“Les Liaisons dangereuses” is the book “Cruel Intentions” is based on.)

The Cool Kids Meeting the New Girl (Mean Girls)

The Kid Who Doesn’t Even Go Here (Mean Girls)

The Kid Who Just Wants to Go Home (Mean Girls)

The Fuzzy Pen (Clueless)

This moment also comes during a pivotal transition in the movie, similar to Cher switching gears from focusing on her teachers’ finding love to her own love life.

The Morning Announcements (Grease)

Apologies that the “Do Revenge” video is grainy; I didn’t realize I’d have to upload this to YouTube for your viewing pleasure!

The School Building (Clueless)

The Paint Balloon Fight (10 Things I Hate About You, The Princess Diaries)

Attempted Destruction of the Cool Kids (Mean Girls)

The Main Character’s Realization (Mean Girls)

The Metallic Clothes (Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion)

This one might be a stretch, or maybe I’m seeing the wrong reference.

The Lawn Game (Heathers)

Destroying the Brooch (Mean Girls)

The Villain’s Comeuppance (Cruel Intentions)

The Getaway Drive + Singalong (Crossroads, Cruel Intentions)

The “Crossroads” reference might be a stretch tbh. (Also, the fact that that Shonda Rhimes movie is not on any streaming service is egregious! How can we fix this!)

The Victory Fist (The Breakfast Club)

This one also might be a stretch.

(And, one of the rich kid sidekicks’ names is Montana, which might be a throwback to Lana, Anna, and Fontana in “The Princess Diaries,” but there’s also a very real chance I’m overthinking this.)

I think there were also a few “Election” references (both Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick narrate that movie, much like Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke do here") but sadly I am not an “Election” connoisseur. This is reminding me I should rewatch, and I’m sure I’m also missing a few references from movies like “Jawbreaker,” which I somehow have never seen.

Drop any additional references I missed in the comments, please! (I have been racking my brain trying to find what the school name—Rosehill—is a reference to and it’s not coming to me.)

While rewatching this movie, I realized I shouldn’t have been surprised by the twist at all. Drea and Eleanor’s VOs at the beginning of the movie basically give away that everyone (which would include Eleanor) is out to get Drea and that Eleanor thinks Drea is evil. And when Drea says, “one down, one to go,” Eleanor looks at Drea in a totally evil way. But I was still surprised during my first viewing! Maybe I should have paid more attention, but I was too caught up in the soundtrack and all of the movie references. I found the twist totally believable and enjoyable.

Even though the movie had a zillion easter eggs and references to other teen movies, it handled 2022 issues (diversity, drugs, class, revenge porn) in a way that felt very modern, without beating us over the head with it (yes I’m looking at you, “And Just Like That”). The main character is Latina, the new clique leader is Black, there are queer characters and romances, and—none of it is a big deal. It just is. (And of course, the artsy student Russ has a bit of a socialist bent, which I appreciate.)

As a scholarship student, Drea definitely has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but I bought it—it felt real. Of course she’s been subsumed by this world that she’s not really a part of, but has to live at school—she’s trying to survive any way she can and make the most of her scholarship by getting into Yale. Does it excuse her outing Eleanor in middle school? No. But in the process of trying to destroy her nemesis’ life, she nearly destroyed her own, which is a classic rite of passage in any teen movie.

(Also, do we think Drea is a Gemini? Her birthday party is at the beginning of the movie and then we go right into summer vacation. Schools in the South tend to end earlier than the northeast, but I’m not getting Taurus vibes from her. Maybe Drea’s an April Aries.)

I feel very confident stating that if I wasn’t familiar with the teen movies of the ’90s and ’00s, I still would have enjoyed this movie—the styling, hair, makeup, and set design were all beautiful! “Do Revenge” is incredibly aesthetically pleasing. The easter eggs just feel like a little something extra for us elder millennials and older. A worthy successor to “Clueless” and “Mean Girls,” imo!