Don’t worry, darling, some time is a movie that conjures up 1950s kitscGoogiegie architecture, sharp suits, and A-line skirts. It’s also a paranoia mystery with a big reveal that subverts the tropes of most thrillers, and it’s all accompanied by a score by John Powell.
Alice and Jack (Florence Pugh and Harry Styles) live in a utopian experimental desert community, espoused by its elusive CEO Frank (Chris Pine). But when cracks start to appear in their idyllic life, something starts to shift.
It’s a mystery.
There are many mysteries in this 1950s dreamscape of an affluent, experimental town. The women of Victory live picture-perfect suburban lives while their husbands work on the Victory Project under the cultish leadership of Frank, played by Chris Pine.
When a sexy housewife named Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) discovers that her husband, Jack (Harry Styles), is secretly going to work at Victory, she begins to question whether there’s anything odd or sinister happening in the community.
Like a good mystery, Don’t Worry Darling is built on a series of twists and turns, each one creating a new complication in the plot. But the underlying premise is so broad that Wilde’s film ultimately collapses under the weight of a high-concept genre riff that doesn’t fit well with the particular pieces of evidence it needs to explain Alice’s situation.
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It’s a romance.
The trailer for Don’t worry, darling, sometime is filled with the kind of eye-popping visuals that make you want to watch it again and again. It’s a stylishly designed film that plays like a mix of dystopian sci-fi and music videos, dressed up as a feminist commentary.
At its core, though, don’t worry, darling, because sometimes life is a romance. It follows Alice (Florence Pugh), a 1950s housewife who discovers that her socially accepted community isn’t really what it seems.
She tries to maintain her idealized life, but when a sinister corporation overseen by an old family friend threatens her happiness, Alice begins to break down the walls of conformity that hold her and her husband, Jack (Harry Styles), together.
The film’s climax is breathless and energetic, allowing the devastation of betrayal to ring true. But its premise and themes ultimately seem too gimmicky for the film’s own good.
It’s a comedy.
Don’t worry, darling; sometimes a film is hard to put into one genre. It’s a psychological thriller, a mystery, and a romance, all wrapped up in a bow of 1950s kitsch, googie architecture, sharp suits, and A-line skirts.
It’s also a social commentary movie about the dangers of an idyllic, picture-perfect community. The film stars Florence Pugh as Alice, a young woman who lives a perfect life in a company town. Her doting husband Jack (Harry Styles) works for a mysterious corporation, the Victory Project, overseen by an enigmatic owner named Frank.
But as Alice notices unsettling occurrences, she begins to suspect there’s something sinister about the Victory Project. And so she embarks on a dangerous quest to uncover the truth. Luckily, she has the help of her best friend Bunny (Olivia Wilde).
It’s a drama.
Don’t worry, darling, sometimes a movie has a lot going on behind the scenes. It’s director Olivia Wilde’s follow-up to her acclaimed 2019 comedy Booksmart and stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as a married couple living in an idyllic, midcentury-styled community that slowly starts to crumble around them.
While the film hasn’t had a smooth debut, it still managed to earn $19.2 million during its opening weekend. Even so, rumors of on-set drama between Pugh and Wilde have been swirling ever since.
But despite all the rumors and speculation, don’t worry: Don’t worry, darling, sometime is still a pretty good film. It’s a glossy, stylishly surreal thriller that has something to say—and plenty of gorgeous fashions.
Sadly, that something to say is just a little too often lost in the swirl of rumors and back-and-forth accusations. It’s a shame, because the film would be a much better experience without all the drama weighing it down.
