Don't Worry Darling has a lot of talent behind it, yet reviews for the movie have been surprisingly negative, labeling it more bad than good. Director Olivia Wilde found success with her first feature film, Booksmart, which has generated excitement for her first venture into dark drama and suburban horror. However, early reviews of Don't Worry Darling, following its Venice Film Festival premiere, have been less positive than Wilde's previous work. So where did the movie, which stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, go wrong?
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Don't Worry Darling follows Alice (Pugh), a suburban housewife who lives in a 1950s-era setting with her husband Jack (Styles), as she slowly begins to realize that the world around her isn't as it seems. The drama has an all-star cast, which also includes Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Nick Kroll. It has additionally been the subject of much controversy, with Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh allegedly feuding, Shia LaBeouf denying claims of being fired, and Harry Styles seeming to spit on Chris Pine at the premiere screening.
Why Don't Worry Darling Got A Low Rating
Although there was a lot of excitement for Don't Worry Darling based on the talent involved and the promise of its trailers, the movie has been garnering mixed reviews that lean mostly negative since its first public showing at the Venice Film Festival. As of this writing, Don't Worry Darling has a 43% score on Rotten Tomatoes with an average critic rating of 5.3 out of 10. Problems with the movie, according to these negative reviews, include Olivia Wilde's poor direction, the muddled script and themes, the slow pace, and Harry Styles's performance. Here are some samples of what the negative reviews of Don't Worry Darling are saying:
The Guardian
"Directed by Olivia Wilde, it superciliously pinches ideas from other films without quite understanding how and why they worked in the first place. It spoils its own ending simply by unveiling it, and in so doing shows that serious script work needed to be done on filling in the plot holes and problems in a fantastically silly twist-reveal."
AV Club
"Don’t Worry Darling might have passed as mildly provocative in the ’90s, before Truman opened the escape door or Neo took the red pill. But Wilde’s film grafts these ideas to a pedestrian, you-go-girl template that sadly feels all too basic."
IndieWire
"'Don’t Worry Darling' is so clearly, so obviously not set in an idyllic ’50s community that to say the film packs a twist is not a twist at all. It’s disingenuous, easy, cheeky — much like the film itself, which starts off strong before crumbling into baffling storytelling choices made worse by the revolting intentions behind them."
BBC
"Harry Styles doesn't feel up to the material here, with leaden line delivery and a lack of light and shade making his scenes opposite Pugh fall flat."
The Daily Beast
"Styles struggles to match [Florence Pugh's] go-for-broke intensity. The musician is like a deer in headlights throughout much of the proceedings, and a scene of him crying in the car following a particularly fiery row with Pugh is littered with more crocodile tears than Charlie Sheen being hauled out of his office by the cops at the end of Wall Street (not to mention, his bastardized British accent is a distraction)."
What Critics Liked About Don't Worry Darling
While most of the discussion around Don't Worry Darling has focused on the film's negative reception and the mystery of whether Harry Styles truly spit on Chris Pine at the premiere, critics are saying that the movie does have some bright spots. Florence Pugh's performance is getting praise across the board, with reviews stating she outclasses most of the other actors on screen. Some critics also say that the movie is beautifully shot by cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Here are some samples of the more positive reviews of Don't Worry Darling:
The Wrap
"With her finely calibrated mixture of ferocity and doubt, Pugh grounds the film as a woman who won’t be gaslit but may find that the alternatives are even worse."
USA Today
"Pugh, like she’s done with 'Black Widow,' Midsommar' and others, continues to make everything she’s in better – and, boy howdy, it’s needed here as the plot grows more convoluted. She takes Alice from ever-doting to paranoid conspiracy theorist and back again, making both happiness and terror feel impressively authentic in a waxwork world."
Rolling Stone
"And it is undeniably gorgeous, presenting a ring-a-ding 1950s dream world that’s hard not be beguiled by thanks to Matthew Libatique’s cinematography, Katie Byron’s production design, and Arianne Phillips’ costume design."
Los Angeles Times
"Wilde’s most arresting visual flourish is to reference the kaleidoscopic dance spectacles… These vertiginous, fast-dissolving visions add to a growing sense of temporal dislocation; they also fuel the vibe of a male-orchestrated world where women exist to perform and be looked at."
Reviews for Don’t Worry Darling have not been terrible, with the movie typically being referred to as only slightly worse than average. A number of aspects are said to hold up, such as Florence Pugh’s performance and the cinematography, while just as many aspects drag the movie down, such as Styles’s performance and Wilde’s direction. Despite all of the controversy, the critical consensus is that Don’t Worry Darling isn’t all that great. However, public consensus could wildly vary when the movie is given a wide release.