Movie Review: Don’t Worry Darling
***Disclaimer: in no way am I a film critic nor have the proper training to critique anything but this is an opinion piece and if you do not care about my opinion best not read it!!! Thanks***
The film Don’t Worry Darling recently made its debut in American theaters, amidst rumors circulating over the alleged drama occurring between the cast. I had heard about some of the rumors myself, but one fact stuck with me: the fact that Florence Pugh was going to be getting paid less than her male co-star, Harry Styles. To me this was not only shocking, but also completely altered my opinion going into the film itself. It’s safe to say I did not have the highest expectations going into the film for several reasons. Firstly, the entire issue of Florence Pugh not receiving proper compensation for her role in the film. Secondly, I have seen the other film directed by Olivia Wilde called Booksmart, and while I could appreciate the film, it seemed to be a completely different tone than Don’t Worry Darling. I was hoping Olivia Wilde would be able to make the transition over to a more dramatic film, and I am sad to say she absolutely cannot (in my opinion).
The film itself fell a bit flat. The audience is just as informed on what's going on as Florence’s character quite literally until the last 20 minutes of the film. While I feel this approach can sometimes work very well, in this film it felt very elementary. My best example would be like when in middle school you are writing an essay and you think it’s the coolest thing to end it with “and when she woke up it was all a dream”. That’s what this movie felt like. The plot was Stepford Wives circa the future of technology, but not in a cool enough way. I would have loved to go deeper into the world of tech and its role in this film as it’s supposed to be a futuristic one?
I also must go into the actors’ performances in the film. Florence Pugh is an angel, and I do not want to seem biased, but in a way, I am because she has always kept it real amidst a sea of surface level acting in LA. Her acting in the film was not the best she has ever done, but this is due to the fact that the role she was given was extremely baseless and boring. She was not allowed to reach a deeper emotional depth with this character. Ok, now what you have all been waiting for: Harry Styles. I knew it was going to be bad. I just knew it. When you decide to cast for looks and notoriety vs real talent what really do you expect to happen? His acting was not as bad as I expected, but it was still less than subpar. I am not going to tear him apart like all the other reviews I've been seeing...just know he was British and yelled a lot.
Lastly, something that absolutely needs to be discussed is the entire take on feminism and liberation throughout the film. I have seen many articles quoting Olivia Wilde going on and on about how the intimate scenes in this film were meant to be “progressive” for women. I won’t go into massive detail (because I don’t think Regis would like that) but just believe me when I say if that is what Olivia Wilde thinks progressive sex for women is she's soooooo far off. I guess I can appreciate the idea that the film calls attention to the toxic masculine ego and the need to control women, but that’s about it.
Overall I would recommend to see the movie just to be able to say to other people you saw it and didn’t like it (or you did no hate!!).