Rent Don't Worry Darling (2022)

Never a dull moment - Don't Worry Darling review by Alphaville

Florence Pugh and Harry Styles live in an idealised 1950s desert community, Palm Springs style. He goes to work, she tends the home, Stepford Wives style. Something is obviously amiss and we follow Florence as she begins to question her existence. There may be nothing new here and it may not hold together in the cold light of day, but it’s immensely watchable.

It’s well-paced, gets creepier by the minute and builds to a rousing climax that even includes an exciting car chase in the desert. Unlike most actor/directors, who plonk the camera down in front of actors acting, Olivia Wilde knows how to shoot film. It won’t win any prizes but the journey, set in gorgeous Californian desert scenery, is a blast.

“You stupid, stupid man.” - Don't Worry Darling review by NP

There seems to be a trend in 2021/22 to make films that stretch beyond the two-hour mark, whether or not the story necessitates it. I’m sure ‘Don’t Worry Darling’s story could be shorn of half an hour and not lose much of its impact.

There’s much gossip about alleged problems that occurred behind the scenes. This might be interesting if you’re into Hollywood scandals, but opinions about the film itself shouldn’t be influenced by any of that.

From the outset, we have a convincingly idyllic 1950’s setting, with impossibly co-ordinated lifestyles, glamorous couples and stylised conversations. Olivia Wilde, who directs and stars, conjures up an almost David Lynch-ian environment and peoples it with an interesting cast, from an occasionally wooden Harry Styles to an impressive Florence Pugh.

As soon as the story begins, we get the idea that something is distinctly wrong here - and an inference that male sexism has a large part to play - and are reminded of it again and again without much in the way of explanation. With a tighter running time, this would have been more effectively conveyed.

The third act reveals the truth of matters and again, the directorial flourishes are eccentric and delightfully disorientating. Helpful in expanding on this delirium is John Powell’s feverish score. Rummage beneath all that though, and elements of it don’t make sense. The overall effect depends on whether the viewer is prepared to be swept along by the expansive ride or to be irritated by the moments that don’t quite add up. My score is 7 out of 10.

Disappointing And Derivative Mystery Drama - Don't Worry Darling review by GI

This is a strange drama that is so derivative it becomes easy to see how much copycatting is going on. From The Stepford Wives (1975) via The Truman Show (1998) and touching upon The Matrix (1999) it's an unoriginal narrative that is all glitz and show and lacks substance. The somewhat hammy acting doesn't help either other than Florence Pugh in the lead role, who is as excellent as always but isn't directed well enough here by Olivia Wilde who hasn't kept the story tight and controlled, indeed the mystery in the story is given away far too early. Pugh plays Alice, who along with her husband Jack (Harry Styles - with dodgy accent), live in the utopian town of Victory in a 1950s styled time. The menfolk all work for a company and are forbidden to talk about what they do while the wives stay home and live a sort of idyllic unfilled life of dutiful housewife. But strange dreams and various incidents begin to cause doubts in Alice that all is not as it seems which causes the towns cultish leader Frank (Chris Pine) to focus his attention on Alice. By the time the whole thing begins to unravel it's become somewhat boring and the final ending lacks any real climax and is a real disappointment. A showy film that ultimately fails and none of its reveals has any depth or gravitas behind it.

A Missed Opportunity - Don't Worry Darling review by FS

Very slick visually.....lots of bright shiny hyper-artificial Americana of a 1950's ish era .....but where was the content?

The basic premise - this is revealed all too briefly towards the end - involving AI/avatar/weird misogynistic cult propping up angry men scared of women having equality, sort of thing......yeah... that old chestnut yet again.

Anyway.... it was so dull - once you got past the glossy Stepford wives scenario  - the potential of the basic idea, which could have been developed into a gripping thriller given the current worries about AI, just didn't go anywhere.

It remained super predictable, very tired indeed.

All that hype/money to produce a film like this but desperately lacking creative imagination.

over-blown hype - Don't Worry Darling review by AB

To my mind, a mess of a film with too many psychological angles in it to be a worthwhile story - even the reveal is done in a scene that lasts no more than 30 seconds by my reckoning and even then is done with a 'this is what it is' attitude. If the film is so deeply mind-blowingly different, then take a bit longer to explain to us mere humans what the whole lot is *supposed* to be about and how the plot is supposed to exist - who exists where and how and how they got there - are they really 'there' or is it all illusionary?

As a mere human male, perhaps the whole psychological fem-dram things passes me by but I could only re-watch this to try and find some new if some explanation was a bit more forthcoming.

Style over substance - Don't Worry Darling review by MI

The period is wonderfully captured but there is nothing of substance in this I’m afraid. It’s like a school essay where you run out of ideas and finish with ‘and then I woke up.’