Don't Worry Darling
2022
**½
Director: Olivia Wilde
Cast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Chris Pine, Sydney Chandler, Nick Kroll, Asif Ali, Kate Berlant, Timothy Simmons
Alice and her husband Jack live in the idyllic desert suburb of Victory in what appears to be the 1950s. While Jack goes out every day to his mysterious job, Alice tends to their home but gradually begins to suspect that everything is not as it seems. A seemingly perfect American suburb hiding dark secrets is a familiar theme from various films, such as Blue Velvet, Revolutionary Road, The Truman Show, and American Beauty. It is clear from the start that this stylish feminist thriller has a twist up its sleeve, but when the reveal comes, everything falls apart and the end titles roll before anything is explained properly. Nevertheless, Florence Pugh gives another terrific performance, which is in stark contrast to Harry Styles, who clearly is not an actor. The scene in which Styles dances for five minutes on stage is baffling and pointless.
