Culture Crash: A Review of “Don’t Worry Darling”

As a movie fan, there really is nothing I love more than a new, totally original high-concept movie made for grown ups. A new movie like Get Out or Inception can totally set my world on fire, and often times when a movie like that does come out, I won’t be able to help myself and I’ll go see it multiple times in theaters.

So I was excited to see Don’t Worry Darling, a 1950s-set conspiracy thriller from director Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. The movie was in production for a long time thanks to the pandemic, and then my excitement level did falter when the movie’s release was swallowed by a hefty dose of celebrity drama – if you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself lucky. But ultimately behind-the-scenes celebrity drama doesn’t really matter, so when Don’t Worry Darling came out, I still couldn’t help myself from going to see it.

But then the movie… totally let me down. Visually, Don’t Worry Darling has a lot to offer. The 1950s set design, the cinematography, and the costumes really are something special. Lead Florence Pugh is great, even if her co-star Harry Styles seems a little out of his depth, but the real trouble with Don’t Worry Darling is that it just isn’t that compelling. It seems to think the mystery at its center will keep audiences on the edge of their seat but it all feels a little too familiar to be that compelling. By the time the movie’s twist comes, setting up what should be an exciting final act, I had already sorta checked out because the film took so long to get there.

Not every movie can be a winner and the unfortunate reality is that Don’t Worry Darling, despite its exciting cast and intriguing premise, fell flat. The movie is now streaming on HBO Max so it’s reaching a wider audience but if you do feel compelled to fire it up on a Friday night, I think you may want to lower your expectations.