Don’t Worry Darling
Starring: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine
Directed By: Olivia Wilde
Rated: R
The behind the scenes drama of Don’t Worry Darling is enough to inspire its own movie. (and maybe one day it will!) From its early stages the film had issues. The Venice premiere alone brought an evening of celebrity drama that we haven’t seen since the Chris Rock/Will Smith Oscar situation. Let me break it all down in quick succession,
Florence Pugh arrived to the premiere late and declined any interviews.
Harry Styles declared that “his favorite thing about the movie is that it feels like a movie.”
Chris Pine looked like he wanted to be anywhere else and gifted us with memes that will last a lifetime
Harry Styles maybe spit on Chris Pine? That rumor has since been denied by everyone involved but it’s hard to forget something so bizarre.
For a full breakdown of the drama, check out this article.
Now that we’ve covered everything surrounding the drama behind the scenes, how is the actual movie? Well I’ll tell you one thing…it feels like a movie. Considering the drama dominated the news cycle for months, I didn’t know what to expect from Don’t Worry Darling. It was hit with a string of terrible reviews immediately upon its release, so I was prepared to watch something pretty bad.
Don’t Worry Darling is a little bit Stepford Wives meets the Truman Show. It follows Alice (Florence Pugh) and her husband Jack (Harry Styles) and their day to day lives in the idyllic 1950’s town of Victory. In the town, the men go off to work every day for The Victory Project, under the command of Frank (Chris Pine). The women cook, clean, and shop. Each day means the same routine in the seemingly perfect town. They have one rule, don’t go out into the desert. When Alice’s friend, Bunny (Keke Lane) begins to question Frank and his intentions in Victory, everything starts to crumble. This causes Alice to notice that not everything is as it appears in the sun-soaked Victory. There’s a sinister secret at its core and she intends to figure it out.
For all of the drama that’s plagued the film, I think reviews for the film are too harsh. Olivia Wilde isn’t a bad director and Don’t Worry Darling kept me entertained throughout. Wilde kept the pacing of the film moving at a good pace building to the twisty third act reveal. I think the issues of this film itself lie in the screenplay. There are some plot holes that never get explained as well as character motivations that don’t feel earned.
Florence Pugh carries the film as Alice. She is the seemingly perfect wife to Jack in their picture-perfect life. However, as strange events unfold, Alice slowly unravels. As the entire town doubts her, she feels that she’s losing her mind. Pugh conveys a wide range of emotions from overjoyed to paranoid to terrified (One could say she perfectly conveys the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s song 22: “happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time. It’s miserable AND magical.”)
Despite some questioning his casting, Harry Styles is not a bad actor. Considering he made the leap from musician to male lead, I thought he did just fine in the role of Jack. Jack is the typical 1950s husband who works all day and expects dinner on the table at night, but he’s hiding a secret. The secret is that he’s obsessed with tap dancing. The man loves to go on 10 minute tap interludes. Okay, maybe that’s not the secret. But there is a random scene in this movie where he tap dances for a massive crowd of people while his wife has an emotional breakdown. It’s such a bizarre moment that I’m kind of obsessed with it. It gave me flashbacks to the scene in IT where the kids go to Pennywise’s lair and he ends up doing a jig. Random dance interludes are the reason I go to the theater.
The supporting cast has a lot of major players. Chris Pine is the standout as Frank, the bizarre leader of The Victory Project. He carries himself with charm and charisma but leaves with the air of a cult leader brainwashing his members. It’s a creepy performance that gets under your skin.
Olivia Wilde, Nick Kroll, and Gemma Chan also appear as citizens of Victory. “Nick Kroll, Did I read that right?” you’re thinking. Yes. The DJ from Parks and Rec is in this movie as Olivia Wilde’s husband.
The MVP of Don’t Worry Darling is cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Libatique has done phenomenal work in previous films including A Star is Born and Black Swan. His streak continues here. Its an impressive feat to frame such vividly bright images and make them so unsettling, yet he does so throughout the film. It’s almost entirely all captured in daylight. Libatique frames the picture perfect 50s landscape with a beauty that slowly comes unraveled as the film progresses.
Despite all of the drama, Don’t Worry Darling is not an awful film, but it misses the mark on being something truly great. It’s highly reminiscent of the Stepford Wives and The Truman Show with a few too many plot points left unexplained.
My Rating: 6/10