Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller written by Katie Silberman and directed by Olivia Wilde. It was produced by New Line Cinema and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Allegedly, it was plagued with some drama during filming.

Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) lives in a desert community with her husband Jack (Harry Styles) who works for Frank (Chris Pine) and his wife Shelley (Gemma Chan), the leaders of the Victory Project which builds top-secret materials. While the husbands are at work, Alice gossips with her friend Bunny (Olivia Wilde) and the other women in the community. One day, she witnesses her friend Margaret (KiKi Layne) acting strange. After hearing her friend’s comments, Alice heads into the desert and sees a plane go down. Journeying after it, she finds a structure and when she enters it, she has a bizarre dream. Shortly after, she sees Margaret jump off a roof which everyone denies. Alice then begins to have strange visions and her seemingly perfect life becomes sinister.

The problem with this movie is that it does nothing to tell you why this world is bad. It seems that everyone lives a virtually decadent life and even Alice’s visions do not seem to counteract that. I have read commentary that compared it to The Stepford Wives, but in that film, there was a feeling of impending doom throughout. There was no such feeling outside of Alice freaking out that made it seem that way. Even the idea that people were forced into the Victory Project was counteracted by a scene in the final moments of the movie. It was dull storytelling and outright boring at times.

I have also read that the behind-the-scenes drama was more interesting than the movie itself. That appears to be true. The director lying about why one actor left the set, rumors of screaming matches between ladies during filming, and an alleged affair between the director and a former pop star cast member definitely were more interesting than this yawn fest of a thriller. That does not even include Harry Styles spitting on Chris Pine at a press event, which both deny happened.

Frank is supposedly based on author and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. I honestly do not see it. Granted, I have not heard every single line uttered by Peterson, but Frank honestly came off more as a Hollywood guru with their faux hippie version of Communism.

Bottom line, Don’t Worry Darling was a total misfire with conflicting messages, poor storytelling, and a director who seemed more focused on personal matters than making a movie.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Foul language, Disturbing images

FAVORITE QUOTE: You can just kiss my grits!

Check out the trailer below:

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