Post by Dracula on Oct 2, 2022 6:15:25 GMT -5
Don’t Worry Darling(9/27/2022)
In the run up to its release the Olivia Wilde directed thriller Don’t Worry Darling has been mired in tabloid gossip to the point where it’s really overshadowed what sure looked like a really promising movie when the trailers first came out. I hate it when stuff like that happens so going into this I was really kind of rooting for this movie to really transcend all the bullshit that surrounds it, though I was losing some hope as some of the early reviews also came in less than positive. The truth of the matter is that the movie is somewhere in-between: it has enough going for it that I think it’s better than its current 38% Rotten Tomatoes score would indicate but it’s certainly not strong enough to be some kind of undeniable success that can only blame stupid rumors for its troubles. The film is set in a sort of experimental post-war suburban enclave in the desert called Project Victory that sits on the outskirts of a secret facility where all the men in this company town work while the women act as housekeepers. Obviously there’s something fishy and Stepford Wivesy about the whole setup and the film’s protagonist starts to have suspicions.
On a superficial level I think there’s a lot about this movie that works quite well. The set decoration is gorgeous and the film does a pretty good job of realizing this world and filling it with all the most alluring aspects of early 60s culture. It’s also got a pretty strong cast that acquits itself quite well; it’s a good vehicle for Florence Pugh, Harry Styles has his moments in it, and a lot of actors in smaller roles like Gemma Chan and Timothy Simons also leave their impact on it. The problem is that Katie Silberman’s screenplay for the film is just not as clever as it thinks it is. It’s got a twist ending that is not terribly hard to predict even if it takes a form that’s different than you maybe expect (though not in a good way) and the social message at its center (that being a 50s housewife is not fulfilling and can be a trap to make women dependent) is not exactly a new revelation. Additionally there are signs of post-production messiness to be found here. We know from news reports that KiKi Layne had a much bigger part in the film that got left on the cutting room floor, and while I didn’t necessarily need more of that character I do see other places where this seems to have been cut down. Certain setups don’t have payoffs and certain payoffs don’t seem to have setups (I’m thinking here of the fate of a certain villain) and there are other developments to the film that I don’t think really hold up to scrutiny. That said, I think the overall film still mostly works, at least well enough to slouch its way over the finish line.
*** out of Five
In the run up to its release the Olivia Wilde directed thriller Don’t Worry Darling has been mired in tabloid gossip to the point where it’s really overshadowed what sure looked like a really promising movie when the trailers first came out. I hate it when stuff like that happens so going into this I was really kind of rooting for this movie to really transcend all the bullshit that surrounds it, though I was losing some hope as some of the early reviews also came in less than positive. The truth of the matter is that the movie is somewhere in-between: it has enough going for it that I think it’s better than its current 38% Rotten Tomatoes score would indicate but it’s certainly not strong enough to be some kind of undeniable success that can only blame stupid rumors for its troubles. The film is set in a sort of experimental post-war suburban enclave in the desert called Project Victory that sits on the outskirts of a secret facility where all the men in this company town work while the women act as housekeepers. Obviously there’s something fishy and Stepford Wivesy about the whole setup and the film’s protagonist starts to have suspicions.
On a superficial level I think there’s a lot about this movie that works quite well. The set decoration is gorgeous and the film does a pretty good job of realizing this world and filling it with all the most alluring aspects of early 60s culture. It’s also got a pretty strong cast that acquits itself quite well; it’s a good vehicle for Florence Pugh, Harry Styles has his moments in it, and a lot of actors in smaller roles like Gemma Chan and Timothy Simons also leave their impact on it. The problem is that Katie Silberman’s screenplay for the film is just not as clever as it thinks it is. It’s got a twist ending that is not terribly hard to predict even if it takes a form that’s different than you maybe expect (though not in a good way) and the social message at its center (that being a 50s housewife is not fulfilling and can be a trap to make women dependent) is not exactly a new revelation. Additionally there are signs of post-production messiness to be found here. We know from news reports that KiKi Layne had a much bigger part in the film that got left on the cutting room floor, and while I didn’t necessarily need more of that character I do see other places where this seems to have been cut down. Certain setups don’t have payoffs and certain payoffs don’t seem to have setups (I’m thinking here of the fate of a certain villain) and there are other developments to the film that I don’t think really hold up to scrutiny. That said, I think the overall film still mostly works, at least well enough to slouch its way over the finish line.
*** out of Five
