Review: Honey Don't

Image courtesy of Focus Features.

It has been seven years since Joel and Ethan Coen worked on a film together ("The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), opting instead to do solo projects. In 2021, Joel contributed "The Tragedy of Macbeth" (very good) and, last year, Ethan released "Drive Away Dolls," a movie that was decent but still ranked among the lower echelons of Coen films.

I'm sorry to report that Ethan's latest, "Honey Don't!", is a step down from that picture, which is not to say that it's bad - even lesser Coen films still have noteworthy elements - but it certainly is at the bottom of the totem pole. The film is a swift - another way of saying that it just suddenly ends with little warning - and breezy film noir that is part of an apparently planned lesbian road trip trilogy ("Drive Away Dolls" was the first and this the second entry).

Much like his previous film, "Honey Don't!" stars Margaret Qualley, in this case as a private detective who doesn't suffer fools gladly. The rest of the film's cast includes Charlie Day, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, and Billy Eichner, but Qualley is the only one who really manages to rise above the material. The others fare with less success.

The film opens with a crashed car that Honey O'Donohue (Qualley) believes might be murder. The female victim of the crash was once a client and had made an ominous phone call shortly before her demise. Day plays a cop investigating the scene who continually sexually harasses Honey, despite her repeated insistence that she likes girls.

Evans plays a shady pastor named Rev. Drew at a new agey church who seems to spend more time sleeping with his parishioners than anything else. One of Honey's clients is a man who believes his lover is seeing someone else - and it turns out that the lover is killed during a drug deal gone bad that ties back to Rev. Drew, who is also involved in some nefarious business with the French. I'm not sure that the details of the schemes going on in the film are meant to be fully comprehended.

Meanwhile, Honey is involved with Plaza's cop, MG Falcone, and the film makes sure to include one or two steamy sex scenes, much like "Drive Away Dolls." Bodies begin to pile up as Honey investigates the car crash - some in humorous ways, others in more gruesome ones. 

The film clearly aims at capturing the oddball comedic noir style for which the Coens are known - and Qualley delivers some one liners with zest - but the film is too short and convoluted to completely work. There are some effective noir touches and solid cinematography, but "Honey Don't!" is ultimately slight and there's a third act twist that comes out of nowhere before the film ends abruptly. 

The Coen Brothers are among the best American filmmakers of the past few decades. Together, they are a duo of filmmaking genius. Since they've gone solo, Joel has proven that he's the one responsible for the Coens' dark gravitas, while Ethan seems more the one to provide the comedic relief. So far, his two outings have been passable, but nowhere near as good as the overall Coen output. "Honey Don't!" has its moments, but it's a very minor entry into the Coen canon.