Typically, a legendary director making a film with a collection of A-list actors is a reliable recipe for success. However, that’s not the case when it comes to “Honey Don’t!”
The film follows private investigator Honey O’Donahue as she looks into a series of strange deaths connected to a corrupt local church.
Ethan Coen is an icon in the world of directors. Along with his brother, Joel, he won an Oscar for directing the 2008 best picture-winner, “No Country for Old Men.” He’s also directed other Oscar-nominated films like “True Grit” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
It’s this previous success that makes his new film so disappointing.
The first, and maybe most consequential, thing that Coen fails at in “Honey Don’t!” is the script. Not only are the dialogue and characters poorly written, but the narrative as a whole has no structure. There is no plot guiding the movie along; it’s simply things happening.
The story is also choppy and clunky, leading to an exhausting viewing experience that’s only 89 minutes long. The sad part is that it seems like there are some interesting ideas and an engaging world buried deep in the film, but the script never gets close to exploring them.
The screenplay is essentially a messy collection of surface-level topics. The film portrays detectives, police and a church in the most ignorant and stereotypical ways possible, which could be intentional. However, it comes across as Coen writing a film focused on things he knows nothing about.
It’s hard to become invested in that kind of film as an audience member, but it’s even harder when Coen’s directing is as bad as it is. The biggest things missing from “Honey Don’t!” are life and personality, both of which have been sucked out by his lackluster job behind the camera.
Coen seems to have forgotten the most rudimentary aspects of directing a film, as the framing seems arbitrary, the editing is off-putting and all of it together feels aimless. He also riddles the movie with endless amounts of pointless language and nudity like he was trying to meet some sort of personal quota.
Perhaps Coen’s biggest sin directing “Honey Don’t!” is the complete waste of acting talent. The film features Emmy nominees Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza, with Charlie Day and Chris Evans rounding out the stellar lineup. They all seem to be doing the best with what they’re given, but each of their performances winds up being completely one-note and lifeless. It’s a true shame that not even a phenomenal cast could save Coen’s disastrous screenplay.
It’s sad to see such a rare miss from an iconic director like Coen. His established reputation means that it doesn’t make the viewer question his abilities, but rather what he was thinking with this film. In the end, the movie fails at pretty much everything, except for its title that acts as a warning: “Honey Don’t!” even bother buying a ticket.
