150 Word Review: 'Honey Don't!' (2025)
Girl power
Honey O'Donahue is a no-nonsense gumshoe who “likes girls” in Ethan Coen's sun-drenched, blood-splattered screwball-noir Honey Don't!, his second directorial effort without his brother and longtime collaborator Joel.
There are distant echoes of Coen Brothers’ classics like Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, but Honey Don't! is trashier than either of those dark comedies, and more fun thanks to a chaotic, queer-friendly screenplay Coen cowrote with his wife, Tricia Cooke.
There's plenty of nudity, sex, and violence. Margaret Qualley's Honey is a foxy loner who is also a loving aunt. Since this is a private eye picture, a mysterious death kicks off a meandering plot. Qualley's street-smart sleuth is almost campy, but then, suddenly, there's a drizzle of vulnerability. The cast is in on the joke: Chris Evans grins out of both sides of his mouth as a crooked and horny preacher. Aubrey Plaza's a cop with a sweet tooth.
I think Honey Don’t has all the elements of a great Coen Bro(?) movie. From my review: “There were the quirky characters you’d expect from a Coen film. There was the dark comic violence. And the setting—trailer parks and rundown strip malls in godforsaken Bakersfield—wasn’t exactly appealing but at least felt on brand.” But I felt let down by the plot, which took a few crazy jumps in just 89 minutes of runtime. I think it’s the rare film that would have been better with an extra 15 minutes of story.
I loved this movie, and so do my granddaughters.