Honey, I Don’t give a damn about this movie.
We begin with the aftermath of a car crash, and a woman with a short hairstyle takes the dead driver’s ring, which has a crucifix on it. And the credits have names on buildings, stores, and signs. So “Honey Don’t” could be something out of Ethan Coen (one of the two Coen brothers) and his wife Tricia Cooke, and it is.
Margaret Qualley reunites with Coen and Cooke from “Drive-Away Dolls” as Honey O’Donahue, a Lesbian California private detective, who has that 50s-60s style-the hair, the lipstick, the white shirt, the black pants, and the dialogue. Now, she’s the most appealing thing about “Honey Don’t,” but the movie itself doesn’t rank with the Coen brothers’ best. In fact, it’s not even that interesting or daring.
She’s on a case regarding the dead driver, and whatever bad things happen are connected with the cult leader Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans), who has sex in the sacristy and sells drugs to traffickers. Some Reverend he is. His temple is known as “Four-Way Temple.” Seeing how this movie uses him makes me glad his A24 romcom “Materialists” found an audience and had a big heart on the inside. In “Honey Don’t,” his scenes are basically on repeat with the sex and dirty work.
Among the supporting cast, Aubrey Plaza plays MC Falcone, a cop whom Honey sparks a relationship with, while Charlie Day plays Marty Metakawich, a homicide detective who can’t take a hint about Honey’s lesbianism (not much of a “Chasing Amy” rip-off for him), and Talia Ryder plays Corinne, her rebellious niece who is in an abusive relationship.
Last week, I didn’t really care for “Americana,” which was a western comedy trying to go for that Coen brothers approach. I liked where it was going and I liked Paul Walter Hauser as a goofy right-handed ranch hand named Lefty, but I felt some of the other supporting characters were annoying. Now that I’m watching “Honey Don’t,” “Americana” is getting better by the minute.
I think Qualley and Plaza do have chemistry in this movie, and I believe I remember “Drive-Away Dolls” shared its passion for lesbianism and goofy crime capers. I think you movie-goers were a bit too hard on that movie, because it knew what it wanted to be and it was able to overcome its small flaws.
“Honey Don’t” likes to be attractive and goofy (and I like how someone-I can’t say who-gets shot to death through a tea kettle), but it doesn’t have anywhere to go, and the supporting characters are more typical than interesting. At least the Billy Eichner germaphobic character gets a tickle when he uses a hand wipe to disinfect a chair to avoid COVID. I think Qualley and Plaza deserve more scenes in this movie than what the screenplay gives them credit for. But I also think we can agree that the MG may be part of something bigger.
Even if the Coen brothers have decided to make solo features (and remember, Joel also made “The Tragedy of MacBeth” on his own), they still can make entertaining movies. “Honey Don’t” is a step backwards with its lame story and cliches.
I would have loved to take the stuttering woman and the kid claiming to be Sitting Bull out of “Americana” and into this movie. And I would love to take Honey and MG out of this movie and into the other. Now “Americana” would have been the better movie.
Oh! And Lera Abova plays the woman from the opening shot. Her name is Chere, and she also wears cheetah helmets and cheetah pants. Later, it would also be a black and white striped helmet. At least, that’s stylish.
