Honey Don’t is the second film in producers Tricia Cooke and husband Ethan Coen’s so-called “Lesbian B-movie trilogy”. It serves as a thematic follow-up to their previous film, Drive-Away Dolls. Once again, Margaret Qualley stars, this time as the titular detective, Honey O’Donahue. Coen returns to the director’s chair, co-writing once more with Cooke.
The film follows Honey investigating the death of a potential client, which brings her across the Four-Way Temple church and its enigmatic leader, Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans). The film also stars Aubrey Plaza (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The To Do List, Parks and Recreation, Noah Hawley’s Legion, The White Lotus Season 2, Agatha All Along), Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Horrible Bosses, Pacific Rim, I Want You Back), Gabby Beans, and Talia Ryder.
Star Studded
If Honey Don’t is anything, then it’s star-studded, and that largely works to its advantage. Margaret Qualley is a delight to watch as O’Donahue, toeing the line between femme fatale and the more traditional male noir detective. However, it can be a bit frustrating at times to watch as the character is very static and stoic. This is to be expected given the genre and archetypes at play. Yet, Qualley is an actress whose expressiveness is a large part of her charm and appeal. That is largely not present here. Regardless, Qualley can shift into that stoic mode with ease and still be entertaining to watch.
Opposite her for quite a bit is Plaza as MG Falcone, a police officer who strikes up a relationship with O’Donahue over the course of the film. Sadly, this is a rare Plaza performance that is not enjoyable. By all accounts, it fits perfectly into her wheelhouse, stoic, deadpan, depressed, etc. However, she does not hit the mark here. Part of it is the character’s poorly handled arc, while the other part is that Plaza seems so lifeless. Even with her other characters, there is a hint of passion in them. Here, there is only empty acting and a pale imitation of what she’s done so many other times.
The Antagonist
Rounding out the main trio of stars is Evans as Devlin, a charismatic cult leader. Evans is always great to watch when getting to play a total jerk, and this is no exception. Yet, he isn’t utilized very well. It quickly establishes who he is and how he operates, and then doesn’t expand on him. He and Qualley get a scene opposite each other, which is the highlight of it all, but sadly covered in the trailers. Like much else in the film, it leaves you wanting more to actually happen.
Narratively Confusing
Honey Don’t starts off with a simple enough premise: O’Donahue investigates the death of a young woman with potential ties to Devlin’s cult. The film does follow this thread throughout. However, she often gets sidetracked with other plots that thematically are somewhat connected. Narratively, it makes for a deeply unsatisfying experience. Subverting expectations can be a good thing when it’s done with forethought and is both narratively and thematically connected. With that said, Honey Don’t takes a big swing that feels very unearned and not what the movie promises at all.
The movie gets lost further and further into its own paranoia. This is not atypical of a Coen brother(s) film, but it begins to feel retreading of an aesthetic for no other reason than it feels familiar. To the film’s credit, this familiarity is very easy to watch. Honey Don’t flows by, and the cinematography from director of photography Ari Wegner (Lady Macbeth, In Fabric, Zola, The Power of the Dog, Eileen)—also returning from Drive-Away Dolls—is good. Everything looks beautiful, and all the stars shine just right.
Furthermore, quite a few of the jokes hit, though none have the staying power of previous Coens projects. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that this film’s narrative starts with one thread and ends with a completely different one. It’s unclear how to relate the two to O’Donahue’s journey.
A Lonely Place of Living
Narratively, the film is a disaster. Yet, thematically, there is some semblance of an idea to chew on. Primarily, the film seems concerned with the idea of loneliness and how alienating it can be. Both O’Donahue and Falcone are extremely lonely people who find comfort in similar but ultimately very different ways. On the other end of the spectrum, Devlin himself is quite lonely. Furthermore, he exploits the loneliness of others for his own personal gain to avoid the growing hole inside himself.
The whole world of Honey Don’t is a lonely place. Everyone and everything is isolated and decrepit. No one seems to be able to form a genuine connection with another person. The world itself is also spaced out, in the vast southwestern desert. Physically and emotionally, they’re all miles away from each other. Perhaps it serves as a reflection of our post-COVID world, wherein everyone seems to have gone a bit mad.
The film does an admirable job trying to capture this loneliness and paranoia, as mentioned above, but it just can’t coalesce them together. Additionally, it needs to be funnier. There are quite a few jokes that get a light chuckle out of me. However, none of them is as funny as the Coens’ best work. It’s just another way that this film feels like a pale imitation of previous Coen films.
The Verdict on Honey Don’t
Despite its promising premise, Honey Don’t is a waste of the bevy of talent on- and off-screen. It’s a meandering film with an unsatisfying resolution that makes you question what the point of it all was. In short, Honey Don’t waste your time with this film.
Score: 2/5
Honey Don’t is now playing in theaters!
Be sure to check back with The Cinema Spot for more detective and comedy reviews! And check out our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky, and Letterboxd pages!
