The Reel Review
Small town lesbian detective Honey O’Donohue teams up with a local police officer while investigating a series of mysterious deaths linked to a local church in Bakersfield, California. Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans star in this dark comedy/whodunit crime thriller.
Ethan Coen, the younger of the famed Oscar-winning Coen brothers (Fargo, No Country for Old Men) writing/directing duo, again channels absurdist humor in another screenplay written with his wife, Tricia Cooke. But their focus on humor – nearly all of which sadly fails to land – comes at the cost of an interesting, coherent story. Honey Don’t is also exceptionally boring, its most interesting feature being the visually appealing, film noir style cliches – and even that is just okay.
Committed performances from Qualley as the fast-talking detective, Plaza as the cop and Evans as the preacher can’t save this violent, poorly paced, lackluster mess. The sloppily-written story and lack of character development results in a shocking waste of acting talent that smacks of a smug contemptuousness for its audience.
REEL FACTS
• This is Ethan Coen’s second feature fiction film, after 2024’s Drive-away Dolls, which he also co-wrote with his wife and also starred Margaret Qualley as a lesbian.
• Ethan Coen, who is straight, and wife Tricia Cooke, a lesbian, have a nontraditional relationship in which each have separate partners.
• Although set in Bakersfield, California, Honey Don’t was filmed in Belen, New Mexico, just south of Albuquerque.
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