Honey Don’t!
Ethan Coen’s self-consciously quirky queer noir fails to engage, thrill or amuse.
Chic flick: Margaret Qualley
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Together, the Coen brothers were like The Beatles. In spite of (or because of) their willingness to innovate and to experiment, they kept on knocking out the hits. However, it’s been eight years since the Coens’ last film together, the sporadically successful six-part Western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and they haven’t done so well under their own steam. If Joel Coen has followed a path that reflects George Harrison’s, Ethan Coen has gone full Ringo Starr. Ethan’s last solo effort, the LGBTQ+ road comedy Drive-Away Dolls did not meet with this website’s approval. Co-written by Ethan and his wife Tricia Cooke, it starred Margaret Qualley as a lesbian who is in a relationship with a police officer (played by Beanie Feldstein). In Honey Don’t!, Margaret Qualley plays a lesbian who is in a relationship with a police officer (played by Aubrey Plaza). She’s also a private investigator, namely Honey O’Donahue, who is vaguely looking into a series of mysterious deaths connected to a local church, the Four-Way Temple, led by the sex addict and all-round dangerous hypocrite Rev. Drew Devlin (Chris Evans).
There are a lot of crazy characters in the small Californian town of Bakersfield, who say the weirdest stuff. The mother of the story’s first victim assures Honey that, “we don’t ride the bus. We’re home owners.” The script is crammed with such non sequesters, which reflect the tone of the scenes, each one sitting up and begging for some sort of reaction from the viewer. While the film is never less than visually beguiling (the DP Ari Wegner previously lit The Power of the Dog), it’s not enough to keep the viewer hooked. Quirky is as quirky does and one cornball doesn’t make a heatwave.
The problem with Honey Don’t! is that it’s just so full of itself. It’s a series of scenes rather than a movie with a cohesive narrative spine, leading seemingly nowhere. The occasional sequence is a genuine zinger, not least the one with the parrot (no spoilers here). And one could do worse than watch Margaret Qualley sashay her away across town, beating up the bad guys and jumping into the sack with the next available lesbian (every other character seems to be gay in Bakersfield). The sex and violence really does seem to be gratuitous, though, along with the language, which makes one ponder the legitimacy of the 15 certificate. Then, just as things seem to get interesting, the film stops in its tracks, as if Ethan and his missus had failed to come up with a decent plot twist or conclusion. But then, as Ringo Starr famously sang, "It don’t come easy, you know it don’t come easy."
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Chris Evans, Kristen Connolly, Billy Eichner, Gabby Beans, Talia Ryder, Jacnier, Don Swayze, Josh Pafchek, Lena Hall, Kale Browne, Alexander Carstoiu, Christian Antidormi, Kinna McInroe.
Dir Ethan Coen, Pro Robert Graf, Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Screenplay Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, Ph Ari Wegner, Pro Des Stefan Dechant, Ed Tricia Cooke and Emily Denker, Music Carter Burwell, Costumes Peggy Schnitzer, Sound Paul Urmson, Dialect coaches Kohli Calhoun and Victoria Hanlin.
Focus Features/Working Title Films-Universal Pictures.
89 mins. USA/UK. 2025. US Rel: 22 August 2025. UK Rel: 5 September 2025. Cert. 15.
