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Many times, when a movie is dubbed “style over substance,” it refers to the fact that elements like production design, visual effects, or costuming were given a priority over story and character. Sometimes the term gets thrown around in places where it doesn’t belong, simply referring to a highly stylized movie, however with Olivia Wilde’s latest film Don’t Worry Darling, that criticism is perfect because it flirts with thematic significance, but ultimately never does much with it.
The movie follows Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) as they move into the company town Victory, located in the middle of the desert for Jack’s new job. As cracks start to appear in Alice’s new life, she begins to question the mission, drawing the ire of Frank (Chris Pine) who is overseeing operations in the town. The all-star cast also includes Gemma Chan, Olivia Wilde, Nick Kroll, KiKi Layne, and Timothy Simons.
Regrettably, the movie has a ton of things going for it that are not enough to outweigh the plot that is both confusing and derivative of other movies. The set and costume design around the 1950s aesthetic make the movie visually appealing, while the acting performances from actors of the caliber of Pugh and Pine do add a certain level of enjoyment to the film.
The problem is that the movie builds itself on the back of movies and shows that have come before it that portray the “utopian” male-dominated society modeled after life in the 1950s. Shows like Dollhouse
and The Handmaiden’s Tale and movies like The Stepford Wives and Pleasantville
have already covered this idea and covered it well enough where the term “Stepford Wife” has entered into the modern vernacular as slang referring to a wife who has totally submitted to her husband’s domestic needs. The problem with Don’t Worry Darling is that it plays with these tropes but does not do enough to bring it to modern standards, making the whole movie seem derivative. If one wants to see The Stepford Wives, the original from 1975 is on Tubi and the early-2000s remake is on HBOMax so its not as if it is impossible for someone to see where this movie came from and compare them pretty easily.
Ultimately, the worst thing about this film is that the press tour got blown so out of proportion that it was more entertaining than the movie itself. Between Harry Styles spitting on Chris Pine in Venice to Chris Pine totally zoning out during a junket to nonsensical comments from Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde about the movie to rumors of a feud between Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde over the marketing strategy to Shia LaBeouf being thrown into the mix for good measure, the never-ending stream of news made for more riveting drama than the movie itself, which is a shame considering the movie is well made on the technical level. That said, it is a Warner Brothers movie so it will eventually end up on HBOMax for those who do not want to take the trip to the theater to see this movie.
Final Rating: 6/10
