After their 2024 runaway hit Drive-Away Dolls, Ethan Coen and his wife and creative partner, Tricia Cooke, are keeping their foot on the gas with the second film, Honey Don’t!, in their unexpected sapphic trilogy.
Margaret Qualley, who starred in Drive-Away Dolls, slides back into the driver’s seat as Honey O’Donohue, a private investigator and a Bakersfield townie. The audience first meets the red-lipped vixen combing over a gruesome desert car wreck. Her investigation into the suspicious accident leads her to Four-Way Temple, a cultish, kink church presided over by the charismatic Reverend Drew Devlin played by Chris Evans. As Honey digs deeper, she finds herself entangled in a web of crime and in between the sheets with Officer MG Falcone, played by Aubrey Plaza. It’s only when her niece goes missing that Honey uncovers how close the threat really is.
The plot twists are gripping, but it’s Coen and Cooke’s writing that drives the film. From the moment the credits roll in the cinematic opening sequence, the film has Coen’s fingerprints all over it, but it’s the dark, deadpan dialogue that truly defines it. Witty one-liners from characters like Marty Metakawitch (Charlie Day), who can’t quite get it through his head that Honey is for the girls, will have you quietly giggling in the theater.
It’s also Coen’s writing that allows the cast to escape the confines of typecasting. This is especially evident in the case of Chris Evans. Known for romantic leads and superhero roles, he turns expectations on their head as Reverend Drew Devlin. Seedy, criminal, and utterly captivating, Evans revels in playing the part against type.
Evans, when paired with Qualley, shines under Coen’s direction. In the tense scene where Honey confronts the Reverend, the Coen brothers’ signature shot-reverse-shot technique is on full display. Rather than simply spying over their shoulder, the camera is positioned directly between the two actors, making the audience feel as if they’re investigating the case alongside Honey.
Plaza and Qualley also have unmistakable chemistry. The press tour has given audiences a glimpse of it, but on screen, it’s magnetic. Through their banter and more physical scenes, they make their characters feel like real lovers, while still managing to give the audience a feeling that they both hold secrets beyond what they are sharing.
True to form, Coen also leans unapologetically into sex and ultraviolence. One moment, you’re blushing as Honey and MG get handsy at the bar, or as Reverend Drew Devlin redefines missionary, and the next, you’re peeking through your fingers at a grisly murder.
Cooke told Entertainment Weekly that the final film, Go, Beavers!, will shift gears from crime to “a story about a lesbian crew team coming together for their 10th year college reunion and kind of traveling down the river of life…”
If you can get past the blood of this prime example of neo-noir, Honey Don’t! is a “do” watch.
Photo Credit: Karen Kuehn | Focus Features
Amelia Cordischi, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Juice Box Press, is an accomplished digital marketing professional with over a decade of experience in media and communications. Her work has been featured in notable publications, including The Boston Globe. A communications graduate of Simmons University in Boston, Amelia served as manager of Simmons College Radio (“The Shark”), where she also launched and co-hosted her radio show, The Find.
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