Don't Worry Darling

 

Don't Worry Darling

Starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine

Directed by Olivia Wilde

Y

Anyone who's ever seen a psychological thriller where it seems everything is perfect, pretty, and polished knows that there's something dark and sinister lurking underneath the surface, and to not take anything at face value. Say what you will, but directors like M. Night Shyamalan has opened our eyes to see things that we shouldn't be able to see: to seek out that "twist" that all-too-often lies in plain sight, and a big part of the excitement comes with trying to unravel what's really happening. "Don't Worry Darling" has that going for it - a true psychological thriller that throws breadcrumbs at the audience to lead them to what's really happening - but once you get to that conclusion, you're left with more questions than answers, in a film that seems to unravel and roll uncontrollably down the mountain, turning what was once a perfect snowball into an unstoppable chaotic avalanche.

Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) lives the idyllic life with her husband Jack (Harry Styles) in the corporate city of Victory, run by Jack's boss Frank (Chris Pine). It's the swinging 50s, and the men go off to work everyday at the same time, while the women tend to the house, make dinner, and spend time shopping and day-drinking. It seems like the perfect world, but Alice soon starts seeing cracks under the surface, starting with the erratic behavior of her friend Margaret (KiKi Layne). Soon she starts having dreams and wonders about what's happening in the town, and why she can't remember anything before moving there. Her best friend Bunny (Olivia Wilde) and others doubt Alice's concerns, but as she digs deeper she unearths something shocking about the seemingly perfect town and the seemingly perfect life she's stuck living in.

"Don't Worry Darling" seems to be more well-known for the behind-the-scenes drama than what actually happens onscreen, and it's never a good sign when that happens. It started off with Shia LaBeouf, who was originally cast as Jack, but either left the project on his own terms or was fired by director Olivia Wilde, citing LaBeouf couldn't "create a safe, trusting environment." It all depends on who you believe on that, but when Harry Styles came into the role, he also came into Wilde's life - the two began a relationship despite the fact that she was with Jason Sudeikis at the time, who served Wilde custody papers during a promotional stop for the film. Then there's the "spit seen around the world" between Harry Styles and Chris Pine, and then Florence Pugh refused to do promotions for the film, instead focusing on her upcoming role in "Dune: Part Two," along with the rumor that she and Wilde got into shouting matches on set. All this intrigue and drama overshadowed the final product, but as they say bad publicity is still good publicity if it gets butts in seats, and so far it seems that's what's been happening despite lackluster early reviews.

Back to the movie itself, "Don't Worry Darling" isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, much like the seemingly perfect town it projects. While it does offer a decent slow burn drama, the ultimate conclusion it reaches is almost laughable (and, in all actuality, was met with laughter in the theater I was in) proportions, where it raises more questions than it answers, and spirals into a totally nonsensical non-ending ending that'll have you talking about the film after it ends, but offering more wisdom than the movie delivers.

Obviously, things aren't as perfect as they appear in the aptly named town of Victory, which is surrounded by mountains, and where it never rains, but each day is a perfect sunny day with the exact same routine: wake up, make breakfast, the men go off to work all at the same time, the women clean, cook, and gossip, then the men come home from work, don't discuss their work, eat dinner, have fancy parties, and it all starts again the next day. A perfect, in-sync world, just as its founder - Frank - planned, since he believes the ultimate enemy of progress is chaos, so Victory can have no such thing. So when Alice starts questioning the reality they're living in, it threatens everything Frank has done to keep the peace, culminating in an intense tete-a-tete between the two that threatens to unravel the razor-thin balance.

Florence Pugh continues her on-screen dominance as one-half of the perfect pairing in "Don't Worry Darling," showcasing her immense talent as Alice, the once-perfect housewife who deduces that this isn't a "Stepford" life she wants to live. She's no stranger to such roles, as she played one in the icy thriller "Midsommar" (which caused Wilde to cast her here), where she also played a voice of reason character who gets gaslit by those around her when she raises practical concerns. She gives a powerhouse performance here that's only paralleled by Chris Pine, who serves in every aspect as Alice's antagonist. Pine's Frank oozes with masculinity and a need to control everything going on around him - especially the wives - at any cost, so when Alice starts questioning him, he doesn't take it well, and the two come to blows in an intense dinner party that serves as the last really exciting moment of the film before it becomes a caricature of itself.

Everything visually about "Don't Worry Darling" is top-notch, and should receive some recognition come awards season. Matthew Libatique's cinematography is impeccable, and the production design by Katie Byron teleports us to the 1950s in every sense of the word, from the set designs to the cars and hair and makeup, and Arianne Phillips' costume designs are, as they used to say, the "bees knees." Add a greatest hits of the 50s and you got everything you need to make you feel right at home with the people of Victory - until the utopian society begins unraveling at the seams.

Olivia Wilde's directorial debut, "Booksmart," was a refreshing look at the teen coming-of-age comedy akin to the likes of "Superbad," and a huge part of its success rested on screenwriter Katie Silberman, who Wilde entrusted once again to give her sophomore directorial effort the same legacy. Proving lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, Silberman's script this time around was convoluted, filled with cliches, and lacked any emotional authenticity that "Booksmart" had - instead it took from more famous works and combined them into a hodgepodge symmetry of a film, but without any nuance or originality.

While Pugh gives an awards-worthy performance, the same can't be said for her co-star Harry Styles. Proving sometimes you can't turn a pop star into a movie star, Styles gives an over-the-top performance that will be studied by acting teachers as to what not to do for a project. He obviously felt out of his element, so he exaggerated everything, and yet somehow managed to shrink into the background at the same time, where you forget he's even on screen in the first place except for his multiple foibles that were met with more laughter than applause of appreciation for his work. Maybe he should spend more time in acting classes, because here he shows absolutely no class whatsoever, unless his main purpose was to look pretty next to Pugh's brilliance.

While the underlying current of "Don't Worry Darling" focuses on the misogyny that was prevalent back in the 50s and sadly making a comeback today, it doesn't really land its theme in a way that's meaningful or impactful, but rather sacrifices it for an exciting chase that deters from the goodwill that the movie provided beforehand. What the film needed more of was Alice and Frank's duel of wits at the dinner table, and less car chases through polished streets. As Frank tries to keep control of the women in his town, the more he loses it when it comes to Alice, but ultimately it takes a grander idea and limits it to the characters on screen, with a non-ending ending that's more infuriating than ingenious - but at least it was visually wonderful to look at.

The Score: B