Knee-jerk review: "Don't Worry Darling"

1. As you might expect, the behind-the-scenes drama of sordid film set extramarital affairs, he said/she said actor firings, and angry actresses refusing to participate in press junkets was more engaging and unpredictable than the actual movie.
2. Harry Styles seems more like a little boy to us than a leading man.  Can he act?  Yeah, we suppose so.  The other characters make a big deal out of him, but his performance doesn't really back that up.  A more seasoned actor would have done far more with the role.
3. The movie does a fantastic job recreating that mid-century 1950s suburban vibe of semi-formal cocktail parties and sleek cars and jazzy LPs. 
4. The problem is that it's a such a long wind-up.  Clearly something is off with this neighborhood, but the movie makes you wait for 80 minutes -- while our heroine shuffles around tries to understand the obvious -- before finally getting to the inevitable twist ending. 
5. And when the twist finally does come and we understand what's going on, it's all a big rush to the climax (and rather abrupt fade-to-black) rather than taking more to explore what this means.
6. By the end, we sort of understood who did what and why, but not really.  There's some very interesting and important critiques of how society keeps women "in their place" and how men are terrified of losing patriarchal control.  (Note both the director and screenwriter women.)  It's like your college women's studies class come to life.  But all of that is buried way down in the subtext.  Imagine if some of that had become more overt so the characters could grapple with it.
7. We don't get Gemma Chan.  Sorry.
8. It may be unfair since Clint Eastwood has long directed himself - and in lead roles no less - but we found it odd that Olivia Wilde would give herself a big supporting role rather than focus 100% on directing.  Any number of capable actresses could have done just as well with the best friend part.
9. With such a strong "perfect community with a scary, dark secret" Stepford Wives undercurrent, for most of the running time we felt like we've seen this story before.  That didn't make it unenjoyable, just familiar. 
10. Well done but unoriginal can sometimes be more satisfying than poorly made but original. 
11. We're definitely members of the Florence Pugh fan club.  If she's in it, we want to see it.

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