DON'T WORRY DARLING by Urizon

 

Man…I wish Don’t Worry Darling was either way worse or just a bit better.

   I’m sure at this point, most people have heard about the drama happening behind the scenes with Olivia Wilde's new film Don’t Worry Darling. If you haven’t, it is way too much to explain, but certainly is worth a Google search. It is a crazy time. Truthfully, I’m pretty sure that everyone going to see this movie at this point is only going because of the drama. I guess it comes down to all publicity being good publicity.

   Honestly, I wanted to see this movie when I first saw the trailer. I mean, it starred Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, and Chris Pine in what seemed like a bit of an almost horror/thriller that had a bit of mystery. I was cautiously optimistic as everything about the film seemed like it could be quite good. Though, honestly as time went on and the drama came out along with some very negative reviews, that optimistic attitude faded and instead I became a bit excited to see a potentially horrible movie. Instead I got, well…it was a movie!

   Don’t Worry Darling stars Florence Pugh as Alice Chambers along with Harry Styles as her husband Jack Chambers. The two live a seemingly ideal life in the company town of Victory, led by Chris Pine’s, Frank. In this community, Jack and all of the other men work in the top-secret company that Frank is in charge of, while their wives all stay at home doing the cooking, cleaning and enjoying a luxurious life. Slowly though things begin to unravel as Alice notices that this perfect life and Victory may actually be concealing a dark secret.

   This movie is really just middle of the road okay. I don't regret seeing it; in fact it had my attention for most of the film, but it also had the potential to be so much more.  There are decent ideas hidden in this mess, yet they are executed poorly.

   Characters do things that make no sense when you think back to it.  Questions are left unanswered, logistically a lot doesn't make sense. There is just so much wrong that holds this movie back. On top of that, it throws in random sex scenes that were totally unnecessary and tried to pass itself off as being a female empowerment movie while failing miserably.

   I know it is easy to look at things and come up with better ways to do them. That's why fan fiction exists.  People will say, “Well if it's so easy, why don't you do something like this?”, and that's a fair point. Though I think coming up with better solutions comes a while after.  You go see a movie, love or hate it, then think about it some time after the fact and come up with these ideas.  I had these ideas coming while watching. The only thing that came after was me realizing just how poorly executed this movie was.

   It really felt like Olivia Wilde had a middle in mind, like the rough idea of the plot of a movie then decided to just film it without fleshing anything out or coming up with a decent ending that isn't really left open.

   It’s a shame too because I think that for the most part, all of the actors did a great job. Florence Pugh especially was outstanding.  Really the only issue I had acting wise was Harry Styles. When he does a good job, he does a really good job.  Unfortunately, the rest of the time it goes too back and forth between being decent and just ok. Honestly it was his accent that threw me off the most.  Early on, I thought he was just doing a bad job at hiding his accent, then found out he was supposed to have an accent a while later. It made for a confusing time.  Truth be told, I haven't heard him talk all that often, but I thought his accent always came out a bit more.  Maybe I just haven't paid enough attention to his normal speaking voice. Either way, it left me confused.

   The soundtrack for this movie is another mixed thing.  You get a taste of it during the trailers and at times it really adds to the atmosphere the movie is trying to convey, but other times it just ends up being really annoying.  I think that is partly because it really fits better for something more horror oriented, which this movie actually isn't. Or maybe it just gets annoying.

   I truly think that one of the worst things a movie can do I’d just be painfully ok. Now, I’m not saying that every movie needs to be a masterpiece.  Sometimes you just want something that's entertaining to watch while eating some popcorn. Even those types of movies I can't call bad, because it provides some benefit to you.  Unfortunately, though, this movie falls right into that okay category.  Not good enough to be enjoyable or a masterpiece, yet not bad enough to be memorable or entertainingly bad. Instead, we have something that's forgettable. I’m already having it leave my memory, to the point where I think if you asked for a summary of this movie in maybe a week, I don't know if I’d be able to tell you what happened. 

   I think something like that is sad, especially because this movie had quite a bit of potential to be something somewhat decent at the very least.  Instead, all anyone will remember is the drama that led up to the release of this disappointment.  So, for now, all I can really say is if you are interested in checking this movie out, don't waste the time and money to go to the theater. It really isn't worth that. Instead, just wait it out until it is in DVD or streaming and watch it that way. Don't worry, it really isn't anything worth rushing to check out