Don't Worry Darling review

 

Unfortunately sparked by drama behind the scenes Don't Worry Darling has a lot to live up to given all that has happened in post production. Will it succeed? what starts off as a visually pleasing trip back in time it's not long before things take a dark and sinister turn in Don't Worry Darling. Set in the 1950s a couple named Alice and Jack live a seemingly perfect life that any American citizen would love to have. Jack goes off to work every morning like every other man in the community while Alice and all the other wives stay at home and take care of their homes until the husband comes home. Each day is the same thing that is until Alice stumbles across something that she shouldn't have and her world and sense of reality begins to completely crumble. Don't Worry Darling stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as Alice and Jack and performance wise Pugh steals the entire movie here with a stellar performance from beginning to end. Harry Styles on the other hand just doesn't fit here at all and his acting comes off as cringe worthy in the more emotional scenes as his range is just not there to perform at such a high level. The rest of the cast do a good job though including Chris Pine and Olivia Wilde who is the director here. 

As the cracks begin to show and further down the rabbit hole we go Alices perception of reality is put into question by all those around her including her husband and friends so much to the point of where she is suggested taking medication and put on watch for her behavior. Could something far more sinister be at play here?? to go any further into the plot would be major spoiler territory and I don't think saying anymore would be right as the plot does thicken and get deeper and it needs to be seen to be believed and understood. 

Don't Worry Darling is an average movie buried under a pile of so much style over substance. Florence Pugh's performance aside there isn't much here at all for the most part. It looks great, it's paced well enough and given Olivia Wilde's first outing as a Director being the amazing Booksmart I maybe expected too much going in. As a whole Don't Worry Darling's biggest sin is it's closing act which is so over the top ridiculous that it just took me right out of the movie. It's left open to discuss and mull over but to be honest the twist just didn't work for me on a lot of levels. If you want a good night at the movies you could do a lot worse but you could also do a lot better!

★★★