There’s been a lot of talk about Don’t Worry Darling while they’ve been doing the press for this, and I’ll be honest, I missed most of it. I wanted to go into the movie without any expectations and just try to enjoy it.
I couldn’t help but see some of the media circuses, but I really didn’t read much of it. Anyway, here is my review.
Don’t Worry Darling is directed by Olivia Wilde and written by Katie Silberman, Carey and Shane Van Dyke. It stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Wilde, Kiki Layne, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, and Sydney Chandler.
The story is:
A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets.
I’m going to say, I’m really mixed about Don’t Worry Darling.
On The One Hand
I’m going to say, that some of this movie is fantastic and I mean incredibly well made. There are moments that made me think it would have been a Kubrick movie if he were still alive today.
The photography, the slick editing, and just the overall tone had me very impressed.
The cast is pretty good, Pugh has the entire movie resting on her shoulders and she does a good job with the character and I was invested in her.
Everyone else is pretty good, apart from Harry Styles. For some reason, he’s British in this, even though it’s set in the 1950s. My guess would be that his character cannot do an American accent, but he’s perfectly average for the rest of the movie.
I did roll my eyes at the diversity of a 1950s town, but, in the movie’s defense, this was explained near the end, and it kind of makes sense.
On The Other Hand
I went into this movie thinking it was going to be woke, and I’m not sure if it was or not. If you went into this movie blind, with no agenda, you might see it as a great movie. However, since there was such a fuss made with all the press, you can’t help but ignore it.
I’m not going to go into the details in this review, I’m happy to leave that to you Outposters in the comments.
I couldn’t help but see that Wilde said the main ‘bad guy’ in this movie, is based on Jordan Peterson, whom she described as:
“…an incel god”
If you don’t know what an incel is, I had to look it up:
Members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one.
This opens up a can of worms since Don’t Worry Darling does dwell on this.
*spoilers*
The movie is basically The Stepford Wives for the modern generation. People in the ‘real world’ go into some kind of computer simulation, where everything is great, the men go and work, the women stay at home, do the house cleaning, and sex is had by all.
In both of the Stepford Wives movies, the first being more of a horror, the second being more of a comedy, both movies touched on this and it was played out well.
In this new version, Don’t Worry Darling is set in a world where it’s about the ‘message’. Women are strong, and independent, and will only have sex with you if they want to. Men have no right to sex, no matter how much they crave it.
I have seen interviews with Jordan Peterson and I have never heard him say men have a right to sex. I have seen him get upset about the way Wilde has portrayed him since he does believe everyone is entitled to affection.
Again, I’m going into a territory of my own beliefs and I really don’t want to, since I want to talk about the movie.
*end of spoilers*
This movie, with a better script and without the media fuss could have been amazing, but instead, it’s coming off as another part of the ‘message’ being rammed down our throats, again.
As I have said in the past, I try to separate the art from the artist, but this time it was difficult. I did like Don’t Worry Darling, but I am torn by it. It is a very well-made movie, but it’s preaching at me at the same time.
The 2.5 out of 5 is how torn I am. What did you think of it? Is Wilde standing on a soap box and putting down all incel males? Or is it just a piece of artwork?
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