If you’re a young person (say, under age 25), Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, stars of the new mystery drama Don’t Worry Darling, are two of the hottest talents working today - she as a actor and he as a pop star. But their starry talent isn’t enough to make the non-existent mystery in this movie interesting.
The film itself is visually striking, beautifully shot and has a fascinating premise: somewhere in 1950s America is a town called "The Victory Project", where the women live in lavish style and the men go to work for a secret company every day. It all unravels when Alice (Pugh) starts asking questions of what her husband Jack (Styles) actually does every day.
Where Don’t Worry Darling gets worrisome is that the set up is much more interesting than the actual mystery surrounding what’s really going on. For most of the two hour movie, there’s no puzzle to solve or clues to solve it.
In the final 40 minutes, the curtain is pulled and the reality of what’s going on is made clear to Alice and the audience - and that’s when the movie gets really good. But the first hour is filled with nothing happening.
The secret of the “Victory Project” turns out to be a great reveal, but the curious investigation and clues to solving the mystery are non-existent. Instead, it’s a long slog of watching Alice have bad dreams and hallucinations.
Speaking of those bad dreams, the recurring visual themes of Alice’s black and white dance sequences (as she’s having nightmares) make for a bad parallel for her questionable psychosis. It’s unclear why this is so common, so it comes across as a spooky Black Swan parody.
Among the cast, Florence Pugh is a standout, and Styles has several really interesting scenes too, proving he’s formidable as an actor and deserves to be recognized as one instead of just a singer. The best performance comes from Chris Pine as the cult leader of Victory - he’s brilliantly eerie and smart the whole ride.
Director Olivia Wilde had a smash-hit sensation with her teen comedy Booksmart back in 2019 - I even named it one of the best movies that year. Don’t Worry Darling is directed well for sure, but her creativity can’t overcome a thin script with missing thrills.
One last thing: the music and sound design are truly awful; it’s unpleasant to listen to and gets annoying the more the distorted electronic pulses go on. It’s a small detail, though it doesn’t help much either.
Fans of Pugh and Styles will find the spectacle well decorated and this being a great star vehicle. If it’s a great mystery movie or female-action you want, go see The Woman King or See How They Run this weekend instead.
Don’t Worry Darling
5 out of 10
14A, 2hrs 2mins. Mystery Thriller Drama.
Directed by Olivia Wilde.
Starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Nick Kroll, Gemma Chan and Kiki Layne.
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, 5 Drive-In, Cineplex Winston Churchill and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.
