Honey Don't!

Margaret Qualley, who was great in Substance, acts like a private detective from a 50's movie, which was out of place with almost everyone else.

Aubrey Plaza was great in her role, seemed very realistic amongst the other actors.

Chris Evans's character was over acted, which might have been the intent of the director, given other weird choices.

Ethan Coen, is a great director, but really couldn't pull this movie together as it seemed lost as to style or intent. I think he must have decided to throw in the several meaningless sex scenes that didn't advance the plot, to appeal to teenage boys.

All the rest of the actors were way over the top and unrealistic to the point of being a parody almost to Naked Gun level. Thus, there were a few laughs to be had.

Didn't hate it, but will never watch it again and regret paying to see it.

I thought this movie was absolutely fantastic, that I was watching something truly great and original: a modern-day noir with a great star performance at its center, a top-notch supporting cast, crackling dialogue, and perfect art direction. But it also contains lots over-the-top violence and unapologetic lesbian sex scenes. It certainly had my attention! Then it just abruptly ended with nothing resolved! What happened? What was the point? This was when we needed the old studio system where the producer would step in and demand rewrites and shooting additional footage that clarified things. This was a heartbreakingly wasted opportunity to do something great. Up until the "ending," I was ready to rate this one at least an 8, but I'm being kind to give it a 5. Sad. HONEY DON'T could have been great.

Well the trailer made it look pretty intriguing, but upon watching this latest effort from half of the Coen Brothers (Ethan), I'm afraid it's another disappointing bust!

I actually found it rather apt that gorgeous rising star lead Margaret Qualley has a bemused, confused look on her face throughout the entire flick... because I felt exactly the same!

While the piece retains some well known Coen hallmarks (good cinematography, sharp editing, decent music and many typically oddball characters), it seriously lacks more important elements. The usual dark humour is sorely lacking, the dialogue isn't as sharp, the script is a mess and the final pay-off is a major letdown.

Indeed, only Qualley and Aubrey Plaza come out of the overly woke sexually charged Coen-carnage with any performance credibility, while a miscast Chris Evans and the rest of the supporting cast are as hollow and throwaway as the lacklustre screenplay.

In truth, it's been far too long since either of the brothers have hit a 'HoF' homerun (No Country for Old Men in 2007!), and this is yet another strikeout for the undenable Hollywood legends who hardly put a foot wrong between 1984-2001! We live in hope (barely) of another 'Barton Fink', 'O Brother Where Art Thou' or 'Fargo' but I think it's been way too long now, they're done... Sad times.

No matter how many elements a filmmaker may get right in creating a movie, none of them means anything if they're not set within a coherent cinematic context, either thematically or in terms of the picture's central narrative. And, regrettably, that's the problem that plagues the second solo narrative feature outing from writer-director Ethan Coen. This pulpy comedy-drama-crime thriller, which follows the exploits of flamboyant, perpetually "thirsty" small town private detective Honey O'Donahue (Margaret Qualley) in her investigation of a series of unsolved murders apparently tied to mysterious church, successfully incorporates an array of truly captivating qualities - colorful character development, fine performances (particularly by Qualley and in the supporting portrayals of Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans and Charlie Day), a well-crafted production design and a collection of knock-it-out-of-the-park one-liners. In fact, about the only thing that's missing here is a solid, comprehensible story. The picture's disjointed jumble of plot threads - many of them underdeveloped and/or extraneous - meanders along for roughly 90 minutes without ever really going anywhere or saying anything relevant or meaningful. To be sure, "Honey Don't!" has its share of genuinely enjoyable moments, but a handful of modestly memorable instances does not a movie make. And that's unfortunate, given that it seems the picture has many of the ingredients for what could have potentially been an outlandishly funny, wickedly engaging tale. Instead, viewers are left with a plot that aimlessly roams from tangent to tangent and never seems to coalesce into something substantial or integrated, no matter how visually appealing it might be or how effective it is in tickling one's funny bone. And, when the film comes up lacking in this regard, it often falls back on titillating sequences driven by graphic sexuality or edgy violence to shore up its obvious deficiencies, a rather cheap and cheesy way to try and revive sagging audience interest. In that sense, then, this production reminds me very much of the films of such directors as Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, whose releases, in my view, are often long on style and woefully short on substance. I find all of this rather disappointing, especially in light of Coen's filmography over the years, particularly his many successful productions with his brother Joel. But perhaps that's the key ingredient that's missing here - the collaboration of the two siblings working together to produce truly outstanding works of cinema (and, thankfully, a reunion of the two is said to be in development). Whatever the case, though, it appears the filmmaker's sophomore attempt at working on his own has not yet yielded cinema of the caliber that he's capable of. Let's hope that changes with his next project.

I just finished watching Honey Don't, and honestly, I left the theater scratching my head. The whole experience was a strange mix of sad, pointless, and-if I'm being blunt-sometimes flat-out boring. It felt like the film was trying to say something profound, but the tone was so off that it missed its mark entirely.

I truly don't know what audience they were aiming for. Too heavy-handed to be light drama, too scattered to be meaningful, and too dull to be entertaining. Characters drifted through scenes without much purpose, and while the story had the bones of something emotional, it never built to anything worth caring about.

The pacing didn't help either. There were long stretches where I caught myself checking the time, waiting for something-anything-to happen. Instead, it kept circling back to the same dreary mood that never paid off.

In the end, I can see why the studio released this movie in the dead zone of late August, right before Labor Day weekend. It feels like one of those "let's just get it out there and move on" kind of releases. Honey Don't isn't the worst film I've ever seen, but it's definitely one I won't be remembering-or recommending-anytime soon.