In a utopian 1950s suburban community in the desert created for the employees of Project Victory as well as their family members, Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) is a devoted housewife to her husband Jack (Harry Styles) who goes to work everyday at the clandestine Project Victory. When Alice follows a plane crash into the middle of the desert, she finds herself with questions that may reveal her dreamlike lifestyle is in actuality a nightmare.
Don't Worry Darling is the sophomore directorial effort of Olivia Wilde who'd previously scored a critical hit with her debut film Booksmart. The film is based on a script by brothers Carey and Shane Van Dyke that appeared on the 2019 Black List of best unproduced screenplays, and the project was chosen by Wilde as her next directing effort with Katie Silberman of Booksmart providing re-writes on the film which became the subject of a bidding war between several studios with New Line Cinema eventually winning. Produced in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was beset by some tensions on-set with Shia LaBeouf originally intended to be the lead alongside Pugh but was either fired or quit depending on who you listen to. Pugh also allegedly clashed with Olivia Wilde with the two allegedly getting into a shouting match. Upon release the film did okay at the box office for an adult skewing title in a market that had largely steered towards large scale event pics, but critical reception was considerably colder with praise given for performances, cinematography, and production design but criticism at the direction and screenplay. Don't Worry Darling Seemingly has all the right pieces in place for a strong psychological thriller, but in practice while it looks nice and is reasonably well acted it's also overly long with not much substance beneath its glossy surface.
To start off on a positive note, the movie from a visual standpoint is visually beautiful with the Victory Town well established with its vintage automobiles and immaculately designed homes with well-manicured lawns standing out amongst the desolate desert that surrounds this town in every direction. Additional visuals that come from the character's uncertainty are also well realized. Florence Pugh is well cast as our lead Alice despite the character not all that rich in depth so we never form much of a link with her, and KiKi Layne, Sydney Chandler, and Wilde herself do well as Alice's various social circle. But stealing every scene he's in is Chris Pine as Frank, the enigmatic and charismatic founder of the Victory Project, and thanks to Pine's charisma he creates a truly memorable antagonist with a solid "boo/hiss" quality that makes him easy to hate. The weak link in the acting however is in Harry Styles who despite looking like a leading man doesn't strike the nuances in this character all that well and because the script doesn't really have much depth to the character already.
The biggest issues with this movie are undeniably in Wilde's overlong direction and a screenplay that meanders on making the same point over and over again. Taking inspiration from the likes of The Prisoner, The Stepford Wives, Get Out, and various other sources, and we eventually get an all too clear picture of that as we head into the third act collapse where the proverbial "man behind the curtain" is revealed and if you remember the late 90s and early 2000s you'll definitely know where it goes. But the familiarity isn't the only thing that's wrong with the film as Wilde seems to have no sense of pacing or keeping audience investment up as the film often meanders with scenes that go on way too long and points repeated in scene after scene. One notable instance of Wilde's overlong direction is during Frank's introduction at a backyard barbecue and while the speech he gives is supposed to set him up as a charismatic and hyper-masculine figure, it keeps going well after it's done it's job establishing that and could've been cut significantly. The movie also features several scenes that are variations on the same point with several interchangeable dinner/dinner party scenes that are well staged but only serve the purpose of conveying what we already know. Then there's all the little things that don't make sense like the logistics of how the "reveal" actually works especially if the characters have friends, family and co-workers.
Don't Worry Darling has some good ideas and ambition behind it, but it never forms the individual parts that work into a satisfying cohesive whole. It's admittedly better than some films of this ilk I've seen like Paradise Hills, but I've also seen this done better too.
