
'Don't Worry Darling' isn't as good as all the off-screen drama surrounding it
CNN
Darkly mysterious, "Don't Worry Darling" features Alice (Florence Pugh) and her husband Jack (Harry Styles) appearing to be living the dream, partying hard with his coworkers in the 1950s-style planned community where they all live. But it's not as perfect as it seems.
The darkly mysterious concept represents a marked departure from Wilde's impressive debut with "Booksmart," a small coming-of-age movie that hit all the right notes. Given a chance to step up in class, the actor turned director has assembled a topnotch cast, but in a story that teases the buildup a bit too long and doesn't pay it off very neatly; indeed, the ending becomes what the movie's driving force speaks of endeavoring to avoid -- namely, chaos.
Owing a spiritual debt to "The Stepford Wives" with its carefully manicured image of suburbia, there are plenty of more recent points of comparison as well, such as the George Clooney-directed "Suburbicon." There's even a dollop of "Edward Scissorhands" in the pastel vision of a perfect cul de sac where the menfolk drive single file to work while their wives dutifully wave goodbye.