Don’t Worry Darling (2022)

The Good: I have to give credit where it’s due; Don’t Worry Darling is a fun, daring movie with some great attributes. The performances, particularly by Florence Pugh and Chris Pine, are honestly great. Styles does surprisingly well too, being a compelling and interesting character. He and Pugh have great physical chemistry – even if it doesn’t seem to go much beyond that – and I can see how their scenes perhaps, um…led to tension of set (if you know the story behind this movie, you’ll get what I mean).This movie looks fantastic. Victory, the fictional desert oasis this film takes place in, is a gorgeous little 1950s inspired American suburb; the costumes, the food, the houses, they all look great and you’d be forgiven to for seeing the appeal of a place like it. There are some scenes that look so good, I almost wanted them to go on longer just to spend a little more time in these places (i.e. The dance hall, the clubhouse). One thing I’ve noticed in 2022 is that we’re beginning to see technology, technique, and will come together, producing some of the most beautiful looking films I’ve seen in years come out. For all its problems, Don’t Worry Darling is shot very well and looks very expensive.The Bad: Unfortunately, Don’t Worry Darling falls flat where storytelling is concerned. It’s one of those movies that makes sense in hindsight – you can see the breadcrumbs the movie leaves that hints to the ultimate conclusion.It’s not particularly surprising, but it is an interesting idea. While I’m happy the film was more subtle than I’d imagine, it would’ve been nice to interrogate and explore the themes and ideas the film raises. There are way too many redundant hallucinations that take up too much time. We don’t get a sense of how anything in this world happens, we don’t get a lot of context on the other people in Victory, how the program works etc.I don’t think films need to over explain every aspect of their story. Some things can be let up to interpretation or ambiguous. But I have to wonder why so much of this film feels like it’s treading water until the big reveal? Not much truly happens for a bulk of it. It’s a shame, because Pugh really gives it her all as Alice, but she’s a pretty hollow character despite all the time we spend with her.The Ugly: I’d describe Don’t Worry Darling as Stepford Wives + The Matrix + The Truman Show + Pleasantville. It wears its inspirations on its sleeves, it’s not close to those films in terms of quality, but I can appreciate the attempt.Also, I love a movie with good food scenes and this one ticks that box. Have a big bag of popcorn ready if you’re going to watch.