Margaret Qualley Stars as a Gutsy Private EYE – ryan

After After HIS DEATH IN 2004, There’s Still Only One Russ Meyer, and This, the Second Solo Outing from the Coen Brothers’ Ethan, is a Sad Reminder of the Talent and the Women. Meyer Gave Big Parts to Big Women in Films that Shouted About Sex! In great Big Capital Letters, Bringing an Artistry to the Drive-in But Never patronizing the seizable blue-collar audience that dug his bowdy mood. Honey don’t! would Benefit From Just A Fraction of Meyer’s Genius; As it is, there’s a reasson why Coen’s movie was tucked away in a grappyard slot on the last week of the Cannes Film Festival, Much Like You Self-Raising Flour on a Shelf That’s Near Impossible to Reach You Don’t Really EVERSE IT.

The opening is Certainly Starking; A car is being chased, and it crashes someone in the desert, instantly killing the female driver. Out of Nowhere Comes a Beautiful, Bob-Haired Brunette, A Mia Wallace Lookalike (Lera Abova) Who Wears Leopard on Top of Leopard Print and Rides a Cute Mod Scoter. She inscts the body and rips a distinctive ring off its finger: a cross with a red dot. Cue the Music (the Animals’ “We gotta get out of this place”) and a hectic Mondo topless-Style Montage of the Story’s Setting, A Very Rundown Bakersfield. (You might be Expecting to Hear Carl Perkins’ Song “Honey Don’t”, but Coen Saves that for the end and usea jackson’s version instead.)

This Dead-end Town is Where We Meet Honey O’Donahue (Margaret Qualley), A Hella Lesbian and Gutsy Private Eye Who Likes to Drink (“Heavily. Its A Point of Pride”). Working with the Local Feds, Honey Begins to Investigate the Crash; What honey isn’t teling say, though, is the fact the dead Woman, a local bartender, had asced for her servants before. The case herself to the Local Church, where pastor Drew Devlin (Chris Evans, in the Kind of Role Napier Wauld Usually Play) Has a Very Hands-On Way of Communing with his Congregation, and Also the Local Police Station, Where Hoke and the two embark on a passionate affair.

It promises to be a kitsch laugh-riot, but, like the Last movie, Drive-Away Dolls (2024), Honey don’t! doesn’t tick any of the necessary boxes to become the cult film it obviously go like to be. The idea of ​​a lesbian private eye isn’t e tat new eather, SINCE JESS FROO HAD two in a pair of his most enjoyable exploitation Movies (Sadisterotics and Kiss with, monsterBoth 1969). QUALELY, WHO HANDLES THE ROLLS WITH A DOESN’T REALLY DEERVE, CARRIES THE FILM TO FINISH LINE, WHICH IS NO EASY TASK GIVE the proliferation of Messy subplots, from the reappeararance of the provencement of the mysterious bruntte, who turns French and in the Pay of the pastor, whom she warns that “Ze purple” – Whover they are – are nut vary ‘appy wiz’ im.

Mercifully, all over over 90 minutes, but the ending – as well as being, well, just Silly – Raises more Questions than it istisfactorily Answers. Does this mean there’s going to be a third Movie, effectively making this the second part of a loosely linked trilogy? Honey, Don’t Think About it.

Title: Honey don’t!
Festival: Cannes (Out of Competition)
Director: Ethan Coen
Screenwriter: Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Lera Abova
Distributor: Focus Features
TIME RUNNING: 1 HR 30 MINS