Since their decision to go their separate ways and produce films without one another, the Coen Brothers have gone down vastly different paths. Joel Coen turned his attention to a black-and-white adaption of Macbeth, whereas Ethan Coen worked with his wife Tricia Cooke to write and direct Drive-Away Dolls, a queer-crime-comedy-road film.
Honey Don’t! is the newest production from the latter, and very much picks up where Ethan’s solo debut left off. At the helm of the cast is Margaret Qualley, who also starred in Drive-Away Dolls, as private investigator Honey O’Donahue, becoming wrapped up in investigating a series of deaths associated with the ‘Four-Way Temple’ led by Reverend Drew Devlin, played by Chris Evans. Aubrey Plaza and Charlie Day also star.
Clocking in at just under ninety minutes, Honey Don’t! should be a bitesize piece of cinematic fun. Visually and tonally, it reads like the comedic works of the brothers’ oeuvre, such as Burn After Reading or O Brother, Where Art Thou? The film’s problem however is that it lacks any of the magic of those before it.
Occasionally Qualley and Evans do their best to drag the film’s writing to being witty and enjoyable, but at times it appears actors are in different rooms altogether. For a film of its length, plot changes come thick and fast and seemingly at random. When the film’s climax comes, you’re left feeling somewhat short-changed.
Honey Don’t! is supposedly the second film in Ethan Coen’s ‘lesbian B-Movie trilogy,’ and hopefully it’s third time’s the charm for the four-time Oscar winner.
