A Review Of Don’t Worry Darling (2022)

Well this one has had quite the circus surrounding it, but for this review we shall not dwell on the off screen shenanigans and focus the on screen ones. So let’s just dive right in. Chris Pine plays….well Hank Scorpio if we’re being honest, and is the head of a small “idillic” isolated community out in the desert.

The setting is well realised and for the first 30 minutes or so I was completely invested, strapped in and ready to take whatever ride the film had in store for me, however once the metaphorical rollercoaster reached it’s apex it just kind of plateaued out and became as thrilling and high octane as a 2 hour journey on a bus that smells vaguely of urine.

Harry styles is not good which is such a shame as I’ve enjoyed him in pretty much everything I’ve seen prior to this, so watching him deliver his dialogue like a ham mannequin that’s been clumsily animated by some terrible and forbidden curse is a massive dissapointment. The soundtrack seems to be going for an unsettling and eratic style to convey the spiraling uncertainty of it’s lead but comes across as a deeply unpleasant cacophony of noise that boarders on criminal, however the licenced musical stings are great and actually very well utilised.

The premise itself is gripping and the setup is superb, but it’s the magnificent Florence Pugh who is hands down the reason to see this one and I’m sure that’s as unsurprising to you as it was to me, every scene she’s in is made infinitely better by her performance and the film is worth a once over for that alone.Also with regards to my earlier comment on Styles, I guess it’s a little harsh to judge the performance of an up and comer with limited experience against a powerhouse like pugh so I’m sure most of my issues with him are comparison based and a little unfair. The supporting cast are solid and Daddy Pine continues to be all around great and a perfect live action counterpart to the dummy in Team America.

Don’t Worry Darling isn’t a bad movie, it’s got some genuinely good moments and a solid premise that it almost delivers on. Pugh’s performance is a 10/10 and it’s worth a watch once it hits streaming for sure. It’s odd pacing and bloated runtime definitely hurt it but it’s by no means the turkey folks seem to be painting it as. So I’ll be giving this one, 2.5 Hank Scorpio’s out of 5.