Ethan Coen is usually more of a miss movie wise than a hit for me. Aside from Fargo, Raising Arizona, A Serious Man and True Grit, I don’t love his films. I don’t dislike them either. I just don’t much care for them or want to ever view them again aside from the four mentioned above. When I found out he cast both Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza in Honey Don’t!, I found myself begrudgingly hoping it would be good for I love both actresses.
The film follows Qualley’s Honey, a private investigator in Bakersfield who is an honest aunt to her nieces and a take no punches personality in her job. After one of her clients turns up dead, it sends her down a winding road of sex, cultist churches, and drugs.
It is Qualley and Plaza’s performances that really sell this film. They both had me at hello, especially Qualley who commands every single second of her screen time. Christ Evans chewed on scenery during the film but doesn’t quite hit the comedic tones he had in Knives Out.
I often find the long sequences of dialogue that populate Coen’s films to be boring and in need of editing, but I never once felt that way here. This film uses Coen’s brand of dialogue to its advantage with Qualley cast as the lead. Her timing is brilliant and proves that with the right actors, this dialogue can jump of the screen with its own energy. I suppose co-writer Tricia Cooke had something to do with that. If this is what they create, then please make more.
Most films nowadays have moved away from the opening credit sequences, but this film really gives us a visual stunner. Shot in Albuquerque, this opening sequence sets the stage for the setting, using signage on buildings and buses as the name cards for their cast and crew shot with a montage of shaky camera angles paused at just the right moments. More of this, Hollywood.
It’s not perfect, but its certainly watchable.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
Ethan Coen is usually more of a miss movie wise than a hit for me. Aside from Fargo, Raising Arizona, A Serious Man and True Grit, I don’t love his films. I don’t dislike them either. I just don’t much care for them or want to ever view them again aside from the four mentioned above. When I found out he cast both Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza in Honey Don’t!, I found myself begrudgingly hoping it would be good for I love both actresses.
The film follows Qualley’s Honey, a private investigator in Bakersfield who is an honest aunt to her nieces and a take no punches personality in her job. After one of her clients turns up dead, it sends her down a winding road of sex, cultist churches, and drugs.
It is Qualley and Plaza’s performances that really sell this film. They both had me at hello, especially Qualley who commands every single second of her screen time. Christ Evans chewed on scenery during the film but doesn’t quite hit the comedic tones he had in Knives Out.
I often find the long sequences of dialogue that populate Coen’s films to be boring and in need of editing, but I never once felt that way here. This film uses Coen’s brand of dialogue to its advantage with Qualley cast as the lead. Her timing is brilliant and proves that with the right actors, this dialogue can jump of the screen with its own energy. I suppose co-writer Tricia Cooke had something to do with that. If this is what they create, then please make more.
Most films nowadays have moved away from the opening credit sequences, but this film really gives us a visual stunner. Shot in Albuquerque, this opening sequence sets the stage for the setting, using signage on buildings and buses as the name cards for their cast and crew shot with a montage of shaky camera angles paused at just the right moments. More of this, Hollywood.
It’s not perfect, but its certainly watchable.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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