Movie Review: Don't Worry Darling
SPOILER ALERT: This one is currently in theaters, so I’m going to stay away from overt spoilers. While I will be describing the plot in loose detail, nothing in this review should negatively impact your ability to enjoy the film fresh. However, I always recommend seeing the film for yourself before reading reviews. Once you’ve seen it, feel free to come back here and join in the discussion!
Great books will be written, podcasts produced, and documentaries made about Olivia Wilde’s new film Don’t Worry Darling. The film’s ubiquitous placement in the headlines upon its premiere at the Venice Film Festival speaks to the salacious and dramatic storylines spawned by the film’s production. This is Hollywood - for better or worse. But at the heart of all that drama is a movie. When I went to see the film on its opening night in theaters, I left feeling that it came out on the worse end of the spectrum.
But the reason this film could lead to great art in other mediums like many failed movies before it is that the film itself has so much going for it. First off, it has ambition. That comes from director Wilde, who releases this film after the massive success of her debut Booksmart.
We are dropped into a 1950s California in a town called Victory. Everything looks perfect in this desert getaway. The houses are perfect, the families are perfect, and even the routines are perfect as every husband is sent off at the same time every morning to work on the Victory project. We don’t know much about the project, but everyone seems to be happy.
That includes Alice and Jack Chambers - the main couple in the film, played by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. Pugh has become one of Hollywood’s key up-and-coming ingenues. Styles may very well be the biggest star in the world. However - and we’ll get to this more later - his star status comes mainly from his music and fashion exploits and less from his onscreen persona.
While Jack is at work, Alice and her fellow wives (Bunny, played by Wilde; Margaret, played by Kiki Layne; Violet, played by Sydney Chandler; and Peg, played by Kate Berlant) clean the houses and prepare the dinner meal for when their husbands return. Already you can see the threads of gender roles being woven into the film’s themes.
But there are other themes at play too. The film includes multiple sexually explicit scenes that could serve the film’s interrogation of 1950s era gender roles, but the scenes are haphazardly connected and really only serve for shock value and titillation. One such example is when Alice and Jack are caught in a passionate dalliance by the leader of the Victory Project - Frank (Chris Pine). Jack is unaware of his presence, but Alice sees him. She doesn’t stop. The scene is incredibly unsettling but doesn’t seem to have any point beyond that. It isn’t the first such scene and won’t be the last in this film. Wilde seems only concerned with playing the audience like a marionette.
A party held at Frank’s house is the turning point in the film. It is here where Alice begins to realize that everything is not as utopian as it seems in Victory. Margaret (the only major black character) is ostracized for breaking the rules of the community, but Alice suspects foul play. She begins to unravel the mystery of Victory, where all is not as it seems.
I won’t divulge the film’s secrets, as it is only too giddy to share them with its audience. But a mystery box film is no fun if the center is empty. Where does it all lead? Wilde would surely have many answers to this question, and I think that’s part of the problem.
The film tries to do too much. It certainly tries to interrogate the roles our culture has historically and, even, currently prescribed for men and women. You could get away with calling this film “Down with the Patriarchy”. That is all well and good, and I certainly applaud that effort. But the film doesn’t really even commit to that theme. It then delves off into an attempt at being a sexual thriller from another era altogether. But, as I said before, those connections are only loosely made. It then looks to science fiction to wrap up its mystery box storyline. By that point, the film has unspooled all its threads. The center doesn’t hold.
When a film is a bit erratic, it can be saved by great performances grounding it. This film has two performances that - while I might not call them great - are very strong. One is from leading lady Pugh. She is one of the strongest actresses to have come on the scene in recent years and she puts all her skills on display here. She carries the film. The other strong performance - and possibly the film’s best - comes from Pine as the creepy leader of Victory, Frank. You know something is off the moment he enters the story, but Pine saves pieces of the character to unravel throughout the film. This may be his best performance.
However, those performances don’t save the film because I still haven’t gotten to its fatal error. The casting of Styles as the leading man in this film has received so much coverage that I hesitate to even get into it. Yes, Styles is the romantic interest of the film’s director. Yes, they began dating conspicuously soon after her split from Jason Sudeikis. It is all part and parcel of this film’s unique, gossipy draw. But the fact of the matter is that Styles is not up to the task that this script requires of him. Maybe, with someone else in the role of Jack, this film could have succeeded. Maybe. But, as it is, the film fails and Styles is a big part of the reason why. He is blank for most of the film. And when the script calls for him to ratchet up the emotion, it feels far too strained. I also never felt much chemistry between Styles and Pugh, so the key relationship in the film never has the requisite highs necessary to set up the deep lows to which the film takes us.
I give the film credit for attempting something great. It is an original film that attempts something. We have too few of those today. But the film fails at what it attempts.
NOTE ON CONTENT: This film is rated R, for sexuality, violence, and language. There are multiple explicit scenes, although neither one includes nudity. They are steamy enough to preclude younger viewers, though. Beyond that, the films dark themes and violence are enough to keep this for mature viewers only.