'Don't Worry Darling' Review: Streaming On HBO Max

Starring : Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan

Director : Olivia Wilde

Music Director : John Powell

Cinematography : Matthew Libatique

Story by : Carey Van Dyke; Shane Van Dyke; Katie Silberman

Editor : Affonso Gonçalves

Don't be concerned about the off-screen drama: Olivia Wilde's glossy film is a chaotic but gorgeous B-movie that is currently streaming.

Don't be concerned; Darling is a perfectly adequate piece of big-screen craziness. The sleek psychological drama, which premiered on HBO Max on November 7, is a glossy, stylishly bizarre thriller with something to say, complete with an unending assortment of exquisite outfits and Florence Pugh in top form. What more do you want?

Don't Worry, Darling, which premiered in September amid countless odd tales from the set and film festivals, is now available to rent and buy online. The release date for 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD is November 29.

Pugh plays a gorgeous 1950s housewife enjoying the idyllic suburban life. She even has a trophy husband, played by music singer Harry Styles, who has an incredible collection of faultless suits and vintage shirts. But none of the chatting ladies know where their husbands drive in their gleaming Cadillacs every day, and Pugh begins to question what's actually motivating the sun-dappled desert town's flawlessly menacing boss, played by Chris Pine. Nobody else seems concerned, dear, but there's obviously something strange going on in this antique utopia.

The unpleasant parts of this strange idyll are gradually turned up by director Olivia Wilde, who torments Pugh's increasingly uneasy housewife with tempting visions and escalating anxiety. Wilde also appears as one of the other spouses, always carrying a drink and a finely pencilled side-eye. There's a whiff of The Stepford Wives about them, and you'll undoubtedly think of any number of midcentury melodramas and home chillers that poke fun at the suburbia illusion, from Rosemary's Baby to Blue Velvet to Get Out.

So, clearly, you're anticipating a twist. I can't watch a brief TV episode of Black Mirror, Devs, or Tales From the Loop without hoping someone would simply give me the twist so I could go do something more fascinating. It's a great accomplishment to spin a narrative that holds the viewer's attention for the duration of a film. Don't worry, dear; she does a good job. I found myself half-hoping for no explanation at all as John Powell's unsettling score mingles with legendary 1950s pop tunes soundtracking the fabulously elegant oddness. There are just a few options for endings in these kind of stories, and a too literal answer rarely matches the mood.

The odd actions on screen were mirrored by unusual events among the film's director and stars when the film appeared at film festivals in recent weeks. It's not worth reliving drama, but it's darkly ironic that the off-screen drama has helped a picture that could have easily sank without a trace. Don't Worry, Darling is a medium-sized film with a unique story—the kind of stuff you don't see in theatres very often these days. Don't Worry, Darling! could easily be one of those streaming movies that everyone talks about for two years and gets excited about the trailer for, and then one day you wonder, "Hey, whatever happened to that movie?" and discover it came out on Netflix Prime Video and Hulu Plus three months later.

But don't get too caught up in the muck. The frantic media circus threatens to overwhelm the aesthetic worth of a picture directed by a woman to a degree that male filmmakers can only dream about. Even if you haven't been following the squabbles, it's hard to go into Don't Worry, Darling without preconceived views. You're not supposed to. Styles is the world's hottest music artist, and Pugh is the world's hottest movie star. The whole objective is the explosive combination of egos.
At the very least, it should be. Pugh demonstrates her skill with an almost casual ease, conveying a theater-filling pain while giving the sensation that she still has more to give. Pugh gives a powerful, often mesmerising performance that holds the picture together even at its worst moments.

Harry Styles is also there.

If we're being generous, this is one of those few times where a performer's shortcomings complement the role. like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who can't persuade anyone that he's a human being but is terrific as an inarticulate barbarian or stiffening robot. Styles' pretentious spouse is a fantasy person in Don't Worry, Darling, so it's OK that he tries to pour feeling into his lines. He's less of a performer and more of a prop, like a fashionable rug or lamp: lovely, blank, and continuously disappearing into the background.

I was reminded of Matt Smith's performance in Last Night in Soho at one point throughout the film. Last Night in Soho, like Don't Worry, Darling, is an ambiguously fanciful drama about a lady caught in a maelstrom of vintage splendour and masculine aggression. Smith embodied a seething combination of libido, independence, jealousy, and threat as the silver-tongued, finely crafted seducer. Chris Pine provides all of those things because Style does not.

To give Styles the benefit of the doubt, hiring such a captivating onstage performer and brilliantly whimsical clothing wearer subverts the classic manliness of Pine, Jon Hamm in Mad Men, and Sean Connery's James Bond (glimpsed on a poster in the film). One sequence, which plays to Styles' performative abilities by putting him in the limelight, delivers a smell of criticism for the way he's been forced to caper in front of us. This is only one of the numerous thoughts swirling about Don't Worry Darling like ice cubes in a martini glass.

These concepts aren't very nuanced or novel, yet there's something going on behind the sharkskin jackets and pinup skirts. It's debatable if the film makes sense of these men and myself, but the whole thing turns out to be steeped in venomously relevant rage.

So the music, attire, and at least one of the celebs are all worthwhile. Don't Worry, Darling is a delightfully enjoyable B-movie that is far from the sum of its parts.