Don't Worry Darling (2022)

I never watched Don’t Worry Darling when it originally came out in 2022. I think the behind the scenes drama with the main cast put me off but I thought that I would give it the benefit of the doubt. The set up of the film is Alice and Jack seem to be living the idyllic lifestyle in Victory but Alice finds out that things aren’t quite as idyllic as it might seem when strange things happen to make her question what is around her.

The main problem is that it is a Black Mirror idea that doesn't quite go the distance. It had a good idea but doesn't seem to know what to do with it. Once the twist is revealed then instead of it being this big moment it feels somewhat lacklustre which is a shame cause the setting and look of the film work really well.

Florence Pugh is really good as Alice and is primarily the main reason why I was as engaged with the film as I was. She is the only one of the main characters that you end up sympathising with and its because Pugh makes her as likeable as she does. Harry Styles tries as Jack but this experiment to make him an actor clearly hasn’t worked. His role needed to be more of a menace and I don’t think that Styles has that ability. I hate to say it but this does feel a bit like stunt casting. The studio hoped he would bring young cinema goers to part with their money but I think that compromised the effect the character had on the story. When they have scenes together it feels like Pugh is more convincing than Styles. It seems like Styles was having the time of his life when he’d got to do a bit of dancing but for the rest  of it he felt like he was out of his depth. Olivia Wilde is fine as Bunny. I don’t know if she was more focused on directing than acting but her role felt quite minimal and only the scene with Pugh in the restroom and towards the end when she is helping Pugh escape felt memorable. It would have been nice to see more of Chris Pine which isn’t a sentence I have said before. I think he was a stronger villain than Styles’ Jack so his limited screen time felt weird. As Frank there is something off putting about his character which makes it interesting.

Don’t Worry Darling isn't terrible but neither is it as good as it could have been. The behind the scenes drama is more interesting that the film but I think that the with a better script then this would have worked out much better and I think the behind the scenes stuff wouldn't have manifested. A slight disappointment but at least it didn’t last longer than 2 hours. Thankfully Wilde showed this was a blip as The Invite is a much better film in every way imaginable.