“Don’t Worry Darling,” a star-studded psychological thriller, came out in movie theaters on Sept. 23. The leading cast contained some iconic actors such as Florence Pugh and Chris Pine, and a somewhat new addition to the acting world, Harry Styles.
When I went to see the movie, I was skeptical and curious all at the same time. “Don’t Worry Darling” has appeared all over the internet prior to the release due to the controversial role of Olivia Wilde as head producer. When the movie cast was first announced, Shia LaBeouf played the main role of Jack. However, after experiencing Oliva’s production style, he quickly quit from the film, but Olivia Wilde denies that he ever quit, claiming that she fired him. Throughout the filming process, other actors like Florence Pugh have refused to promote the movie in any way after Wilde’s false statements. Although many people put down the movie and disregarded it completely, I was still interested in how it would turn out.
The movie takes place in an idealistic 1950s town called Victory. In this town, every man goes to work a 9-5 job, and when he returns his wife has prepared a perfectly cooked three-course dinner. Underneath the utopian-esque appearance, one of the main characters, Alice (Florence Pugh), starts to notice clues that something is wrong.
While I can’t give too much else away without revealing the plot twist, I can review the overall pros and cons of this movie.
One of the biggest selling points was the beautiful and intricate set design. Each scene has the perfect arrangement of colors and catches the viewer’s attention. At times, the set can be off-putting and unnatural to look at, which gives the whole film more of an eerie feeling to it.
Along with the set design, the writers did an excellent job subtly building up the suspense. In a lot of psychological thriller films, the entire movie is built around one singular jump scare. However, in “Don’t Worry Darling,” the creepiness follows Pugh around from the first minute. Even when everything is seemingly normal, there is something that you just can’t place that shouldn’t be there.
However, while the set design and script lead to a hair-raising viewing experience, the actual plot twist was underwhelming. I could guess what was going to happen from a mile away as this kind of movie has already been done before. Going into the movie, I was excited to see something different, but “Don’t Worry Darling” delivered results found in movies like “The Matrix,” “The Truman Show” and “Inception.”
Overall, I would not recommend seeing this movie in theaters. I would wait until it comes out on streaming service, as the quality is not worth the price of a ticket. While the cast and set design made for an interesting trailer, sitting through a full two-hour film with the same plot as half of the psychological thrillers out there was not worth it.
Rating: 4/10
