Actresses Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza are a hurricane of fun and mysterious characterizations. Honey Don’t! is a unique crime thriller and dark comedy. This film feels experimental-because it pushes all kinds of limits while also finding humor in moments that should not be so funny. Directed by Ethan Coen, horrid behaviors thrive in an immersive way. It is like Fargo with some hidden gems, but in the end is unable to fulfill its potential brilliance.
The film focuses on Honey O’Donahue (Qualley), a lesbian detective making all kinds of eerie choices while also navigating weird crimes. Many of the issues are entangled with a church run by the mysterious Reverend Drew Devlin (played by Chris Evans). He is a reverend up to all kinds of shady activities when he is off duty. With murders and various crimes occurring, Honey’s mind is boggled. In addition, she is busy trying to find love for a colleague, MG Falcone (Plaza). The two establish a secret. loving relationship. At the same time, the small-town that Honey patrols remain at odds given the murders and the shady Reverend Devlin. As the story progresses, the circumstances surrounding the unexplained crimes get even messier.
It is a film in which all the characters are two-sided. The elements needed to explore trust in relationships are perfect for this set of characters, but the execution falls short. This is likely due to how Ethan writes his scripts which normally entailtragedy and sad endings. At other times, Ethan’s scripts leave his viewers twisted. There is much that is twisted in Honey Don’t!, including Honey’s bad choices. Not one of the characters is up to par in this film. However, Honey Don’t! is vibrant with interesting layers of tragedy that continue to make attempts to get to the truth. Unfortunately, things fall apart quite early, which has an impact on the film’s overall enjoyability.
The storyline veers away from the crime scenarios to try to focus more on the risky behaviors in pursuit of adding somejoyfulness in the film. This was a turn off for me because I was expecting lots of laughs from cleverness since it is written by one of the Coen brothers. I did not get much of that but instead got a whole lot of intimate moments that seemed unwritten. The performances were magnificent, but the connection to the plot was limited. In the end, the film fell short of its potential.
Honey Don’t! became increasingly strange as it went on due to the detective wanting her own desires to be fulfilled. The sameissue applies to the Reverend. The roles of superiority should befunny and attention-grabbing, but their characterizations were written poorly. Also, there were too many random ideas that fell in and out of place which were equally flawed because their outcomes were predictable. This is far from my favorite film byEthan Coen, but at least the writing was effective in generating some momentum. Two out of four stars for Honey Don’t!
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