Don’t Worry, Darling—It’s Nowhere Near as Bad as the Reviews Are Saying

A movie overshadowed by its publicity.

We can’t talk about this movie without talking about the drama.

At least, that’s what most reviews are insisting upon. Everywhere you look, there’s #Holivia, ‘Miss Flo’, Shia LaBeouf and #spitgate spitting right back at you.

So, what happens when you buy a ticket to Don’t Worry Darling and enter the cinema with a blank slate? Within the first half hour, I realised that despite my acute awareness of all the ‘tea’ that’s unfolded, I actually had no idea what the movie was about.

And I highly recommend you go in with the same cluelessness as well.

While the trailer reveals a super chic, glossy, and aesthetically presented 1950’s suburbia with attractive couples to boot, there’s something far more sinister below the surface. And whether the critic’s consensus is that it’s predictable, or shallow, or poorly executed—it didn’t stop me from holding my breath.

There are some stunning moments of cinematography and abstraction, with interesting portrayals of the human mind. To slam Don’t Worry Darling as a film more concerned with its publicity is doing a disservice to Olivia Wilde’s directorial instinct.

This is especially true given it’s the screenplay where one might say the film falls apart, rather than Wilde’s direction. The issues with the film are inherent issues with the plot. But even that can be explained away if you acquiesce to the conceptual nature of it all.

And the acting? Florence Pugh deserves the acclaim, Chris Pine is downright scary, Olivia Wilde is refreshingly funny and Harry Styles…is honestly not terrible.

Sure, there were moments of wincing or cringing when his lines were delivered a little too forcefully, but not enough to take me out of the film. I remained viscerally enraptured for the entire runtime—and by its close, I had to recollect myself.

If you enjoy documentaries about cults or Jordan Peele horror films, there’s probably something for you here. But more generally, if you’re the type to pick apart movies for days, read theories online, and discuss it mercilessly with your friends—you should definitely go see Don’t Worry Darling.

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Header image: Warner Bros.