Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller that tells the story of a seemingly idyllic world titled the Victory Project. Jack and Alice Chambers are a couple living within this project, and everything about their world, life and relationship seems absolutely flawless until Alice begins to have suspicions about the reality of this “perfect” world. The stars of this film are the ever-talented Florence Pugh as Alice, and Harry Styles as Jack, the rest of the cast includes Nick Kroll, Gemma Chan, Chris Pine, and the director of this movie Olivia Wilde. Wilde is well known for her directorial debut, Booksmart, which was met with critical acclaim (Spiegel, Sam, et al.). Unfortunately, Don’t Worry Darling has not been met with as much praise as Wilde’s first film. This movie was given a pitiful 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, and although the audience score is higher at 74%, the reviews were not very enthusiastic. In a press interview for DWD, Harry Styles claims that his "..favorite thing about the movie is, like, it feels like a movie,...Like, you know, go to the theater. You know, kind of the reason why you go to watch something on the big screen," (Sanchez). Although this quote might sound a bit scattered and out of the blue, after seeing this movie, I can definitively confirm that it rings true.
The following paragraphs may contain spoilers for this movie.
After seeing the trailer for this film, I waited in anticipation for months. Not only did the cinematography immediately grab my attention, but the music and cast seemed too good to be true. The beginning of this movie allowed me to keep my hopes up as I was immediately drawn into the community within Victory, California. However, after seeing it, this movie did still leave something to be desired. It wasn’t terrible, but it felt very insubstantial and unfocused compared to what I expected from Olivia Wilde and the trailer. ImDb reviewer, jackson-97078 states, “I'll begin with positives. The production design was gorgeous - it was easy to be swept up in the fantastical 1950's American suburb setting thanks to the colourful set pieces and wonderful costumes. Florence Pugh is really the stand out performer in DWD [Don’t Worry Darling], but even her talent was not enough for me to genuinely care for her character. Unfortunately, the positives end here,”(IMdB). Many of the comments left carry very similar undertones to this review. This movie was beautiful. The sets and coloring were fabulous, and Florence Pugh shone, but the film still seemed to lack direction. As Alice contemplates her own sanity and the more sinister workings of the Victory project are revealed, the audience is drawn in, but unfortunately these plot points aren’t drawn out in a way that allows the audience to feel emotionally invested in both the characters and what is happening to them. On the surface level, it’s absolutely gorgeous and the cast is incredible, but I feel that it wasn’t put together in a way that allowed it to reach its full potential.
Works Cited
“Don't Worry Darling.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Worry_Darling. Accessed 16 October 2022.
“Harry Styles and Florence Pugh in Don't Worry Darling (2022).” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10731256/. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Rotten Tomatoes. “Don't Worry Darling.” Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dont_worry_darling. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Sanchez, Chelsey. “Harry Styles Offers Some Thrilling Insight on the State of Cinema.” Harper's Bazaar, 6 September 2022, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a41094386/harry-styles-dont-worry-darling-interview-reaction/. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Spiegel, Sam, et al. “Booksmart (2019).” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1489887/. Accessed 16 October 2022.
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