Honey, Don’t! Think About This Movie
Honey, Don’t! piqued my interest mainly because it was presented as a lesbian flick starring Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza, and I am a lesbian who loves Qualley and Plaza. When I saw the trailer, I thought to myself, “Wow. This movie was made for me,” but then I saw who the director was: Ethan Coen. Now, in case you didn’t know, Ethan Coen makes up one half of the directorial duo “The Coen Brothers,” who made critically acclaimed films such as Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men, and Inside Llewyn Davis. Yet, Ethan has not reached the same amount of critical success on his own as with his brother. In fact, his two most recent films, Drive Away Dolls and Honey, Don’t!, are sitting at fewer than 3 stars on Letterboxed each (2.8 and 2.4 respectively).
When watching these films, it’s important to note that Coen worked with his queer wife, Tricia Cooke, on these two films in an attempt to make “lowbrow” movies. Coen said to ABC News while promoting Drive Away Dolls that “[Cooke is] queer and sweet and I’m straight and stupid.” I do agree that these films are a mix of both Cooke and Coen, that mix resulting in the movie being queer, stupid, and “lowbrow,” though I would argue that these films, especially Honey, Don’t! begin to give off a fetish-y vibe (like Quinton Tarantino and feet) for Coen when the majority of the screentime in both of these movies is dedicated to Qualley having lesbian sex or rejecting men because she’s a lesbian.
Before I get into the problems I have with the movie, I would like to acknowledge the fact that this movie is a fun watch. It was well paced enough (outside of the sex scenes) so that there was some tension that made it engaging enough to watch. It was slow at times and really fast at others, making watching the film jarring, but it feels somewhat intentional considering that they were trying to make a “lowbrow” movie. Although I’m not usually one to like a “lowbrow” movie, I did really enjoy my time watching this one.
As for the film’s plot, there is very little of it to discuss. It feels more like Cooke and Coen thought of situations that would lead to fun lesbian sex scenes (and they are undoubtedly fun) and put them all together without much regard for the greater narrative structure, leading to most plot points being dropped for seemingly no reason at all. Every point about the cult, which was a major part of the film’s advertising, was dropped, and major twists of the film are there with no clues beforehand, leading to an unsatisfying feeling when all these twists are brought up and dropped in order to add another sex scene. I loved the sex scenes as much as the guy who was sitting next to me when I went to go see it, but I can’t help feeling the movie was not at all focused on the story it was trying to tell and more focused on how sexy Qualley is. While I partially watched this because Qualley and Plaza are numbers two and three respectively on my list of non-lesbian-women-who-can-play-lesbians, I also was interested in the cult and I really wanted to see how that would play out, but it only made up around 20 minutes of the film, then was just dropped. It felt like the writers don't respect the audience enough to give them a satisfying story.
The look of the film was great, the performances were good, and it was fun, but thinking about this movie ruins it. Now, if you do want to watch Plaza eating out Qualley (and vice versa), I fully recommend that you watch this movie. But, if you would prefer a movie about lesbians that actually is good, watch literally any movie besides ones directed by Ethan Coen. As @notmerii said on Letterboxd “I know now which Coen brother has the sauce.”
Don’t forget to follow me on Letterboxd (@robinfilmentine) and comment down below which Coen brother’s nachos you would rather reheat!