Film evaluation: ‘Honey Don’t’ gives gentle, attractive enjoyable

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 (UPI) — Honey Don’t, in theaters Friday, is a slight however nonetheless entertaining caper from Ethan Coen. It shares a quirkiness with Fargo, The Big Lebowski and different darkish comedies made along with his brother, Joel Coen, however these movies stay robust acts to observe.

Margaret Qualley stars as Honey O’Donahue, a personal investigator whose consumer, Mia Novotny (Kara Peterson), dies in an vehicle accident. The viewers beforehand realized a French girl, later often called Chére (Lara Abova), is Mia’s killer.

Mia’s belongings lead Honey to the church of Reverend Drew (Chris Evans), who is working a drug-dealing enterprise with Chére. One of Drew’s couriers, Hector (Jacnier), by accident kills one in every of his purchasers, complicating issues additional.

The movie tells a narrative within the vein of Blood Simple and Fargo, the place not-so-bright criminals complicate easy crimes with their ineptitude, and find yourself committing way more severe crimes than the unique ones. Drew’s henchmen are rather more apparent, with slack jaws indicating they’re confused by Drew’s easy orders.

There are lots of convoluted occasions for a plot that quantities to a drug deal gone dangerous. As it spirals, there are many Coen-esque unintended killings with sudden implements. It entertains, however seems like leftovers since they’ve already used the wooden chipper in Fargo and cattle gun in No Country for Old Men.

Honey’s niece, Corinne (Talia Ryder), additionally elements into the plot, launched when she involves Honey with a scenario she hopes to maintain from her mom (Kristen Connelly). Later, when Corinne goes lacking, her disappearance additionally ties into the case.

Honey being a lesbian is handled as a quirk when it ought to simply be a part of her character. Having clueless murder detective Marty (Charlie Day) repeatedly hit on her is a really outdated joke.

Honey’s relationship with officer MG Falcone (Aubrey Plaza) is noteworthy, nonetheless. Their encounter in a bar is palpably seductive, so their subsequent love scene is a real launch.

The Coen brothers collectively hardly ever explored intercourse of their films, and even the intercourse in Lebowski is absurd. There is a lot intercourse in Honey Don’t, it runs the gamut from comical to passionate to generally gratuitous.

The very clue that leads Honey to Drew is said to a intercourse ring he runs with parishioners. Drew’s introductory scene is one such dalliance.

Honey and MG are interesting characters within the custom of femme fatales and plucky go-getters. They do exist within the trendy world however their method alone units them aside from most films in 2025.

It’s shocking no character tells Honey she has moxie, since that is the angle Coen and co-writer Tricia Cooke are going for. Again, this isn’t the primary Coen-related film reflecting such characters, together with Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy and Intolerable Cruelty.

Likewise, nobody in Honey Don’t may very well be known as generic, to the purpose of generally making an attempt too laborious. For instance, Honey’s assistant, Spider (Gabby Beans) needs to assist however cannot discover something to try this Honey will not do herself.

One of Honey’s new purchasers, Mr. Siegfried (Billy Eichner) nonetheless wipes down the chair he sits in due to COVID. An older man (Kale Browne) randomly seems, lingers too lengthy and blurts out issues that aren’t reassuring to the one ladies he is following.

The movie resolves a bit too neatly but it surely’s not boring alongside the way in which. At below 90 minutes, Honey Don’t can afford to be a trifle of B-sides from a solo Coen brother.

Fred Topel, who attended movie college at Ithaca College, is a UPI leisure author based mostly in Los Angeles. He has been knowledgeable movie critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read extra of his work in Entertainment.