‘Honey Don’t!’ evaluate: Margaret Qualley shines in enjoyable, gory neo-noir

The skies are blue, the solar unrelenting and the physique rely escalating within the Bakersfield, California, of “Honey Don’t!,” the place Margaret Qualley’s non-public investigator tries to get a deal with on the nefarious goings-on in her metropolis with a small-town really feel.

It’s the second movie in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s so-called “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” and whereas this shaggy caper may not add as much as something important — maybe a part of the “B-movie” level — it’s enjoyable and immensely watchable. That’s thanks largely to Qualley’s flip because the easily assured Honey O’Donahue, type of a Philip Marlowe, or possibly Veronica Mars, in cherry-red lipstick, excessive heels and silks (impressed selections for the sweltering setting by costume designer Peggy Schnitzer).

Honey is supposed to be strikingly “other” on this very downtrodden Bakersfield of eccentrics, dropouts and misplaced souls, the place lacking tooth appear to be extra prevalent than pedicures. It’s a carnival of very memorable, very Coen-esque misfits, like a grumpy bartender performed by Don Swayze and Charlie Day’s clueless police officer Marty Metakawitch. Marty shouldn’t be the one man on the town who has hassle accepting that Honey won’t ever be thinking about him. You might play a ingesting sport with what number of occasions she has to inform hapless males, “I like girls.”

Not solely is queer literacy low on this Bakersfield, however many on the town appear to have come below the affect of a church chief performed by Chris Evans, the Rev. Drew Devlin, whose high-wattage smile and proclivity for flirting have made him an area superstar. Evans, who appears to be having enjoyable in a weirder function, performs the Rev. Drew as a charismatic creep, an ego-driven and probably sex-addicted influencer who can also be peddling medicine and arranging hits round city. He too has a boss, or bosses, recognized solely as “the French,” which is amusingly underexplained. And he’s typically fully, or almost, bare and concerned in some cringey, experimental acts together with his naive followers.

Not not like the brand new “The Naked Gun,” this saga begins with a suspicious vehicular dying. The deceased was an almost-client of Honey’s, which units her off poking round and searching for solutions. Most of her circumstances are of the dishonest partner sort, and that is simply extra fascinating. Meanwhile, others begin dropping lifeless too. Some of those deaths really feel spiritually, comedically just like the Mark Pellegrino sequence in “Mullholland Drive” (not the one Lynchian nod). And all indicators are pointing again to the church, although Honey will get a bit distracted with a brand new fling in Aubrey Plaza’s lustful cop MG Falcone and a few household drama along with her wayward niece Corinne (Talia Ryder).

“Honey Don’t” would possibly play extra like a pilot episode of a tv sequence than a contained movie, however it’s a step up from Coen and Cooke’s earlier effort, “Drive Away Dolls,” which felt constructed of comedic components whose shelf life expired 20 years in the past. This script, written by Coen and Cooke, might be simply as classic, technically talking, however it feels extra timeless. With a secure of memorable aspect characters, together with Josh Pafchek because the reverend’s assistant and Jacnier as a skittish new drug supplier named Hector, “Honey Don’t” is gory, unapologetically sexual, quippy and darkish. It additionally clocks in at below 90 minutes — they knew simply when to get out.

As Ethan Coen finds his groove as a solo director, “Honey Don’t” may not be “The Big Lebowski” or “Raising Arizona,” however it’s a swing in the appropriate course. At this charge, if we get the pleasure of seeing a 3rd movie, it’d simply be a basic.

“Honey Don’t!” a Focus Features launch in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “some strong violence, language, graphic nudity, strong sexual content.” Running time: 88 minutes. Three stars out of 4.