Curator Watchlist
A stylish premise and a strong cast can’t overcome the sense of a movie that keeps changing its mind about what kind of story it wants to tell. The result plays more like a shaggy, undercooked riff on noir and small-town corruption than a satisfying mystery or comedy.
Where to watch: Buy
Thu · 1h 29m
Director: Ethan Coen
Starring: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans
Honey O'Donahue, a small-town private investigator, delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.
Ethan Coen
Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans
A stylish premise and a strong cast can’t overcome the sense of a movie that keeps changing its mind about what kind of story it wants to tell. The result plays more like a shaggy, undercooked riff on noir and small-town corruption than a satisfying mystery or comedy.
Honey Don’t! has the bones of a breezy neo-noir: a private eye, a weird church, suspicious deaths, and a cast that should be able to make sparks fly. But the movie keeps veering away from its own setup, trading momentum for digressions and leaving the central mystery frustratingly underpowered. It’s the kind of film where style and casting do a lot of heavy lifting while the script seems to be improvising in real time.
There are pleasures here, especially in the performers’ commitment to the material’s horny, deadpan energy. The movie clearly wants to be sly, sleazy, and playful, and it occasionally lands a joke or a mood. But the tonal whiplash is hard to ignore, and the story never quite earns its detours.
For viewers who like their crime movies loose, unserious, and a little self-sabotaging, there may be enough atmosphere to admire. For everyone else, it feels less like a twisty mystery than a collection of promising scenes in search of a movie.
Adriano Caporusso (2★) · 10686 likes
Take a shot every time this movie abruptly changes plots, you’ll be in a coma
Yashley (2★) · 7647 likes
This movie really said 'Honey Don't'... and I should've listened
mary (1.5★) · 7516 likes
I know now which Coen brother has the sauce
vivien (1.5★) · 6143 likes
Oh, Honey! It was so painfully obvious that a man is behind that camera...
katyswend (2.5★) · 5746 likes
This was not very good but everyone is very hot ❤️
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private investigator, small-town corruption, mystery investigation, religious hypocrisy, crime comedy, neo-noir, sexual tension, tonal whiplash
neo-noir, crime comedy, mystery, thriller, small-town, church corruption, deadpan, queer subtext, dark humor, stylized