Honey Don’t! is a neo-noir with a droll comedic sensibility set in the blazing sun of Bakersfield, California. Margaret Qualley stars as Honey, the beautiful lesbian gumshoe with a witty, inscrutable attitude that belies her sharp intelligence and hidden empathetic and romantic nature.
Here’s the synopsis: Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator, delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church. Are the deaths merely tragedies or part of a bigger and more sinister plan?
Here’s the trailer.
The film was directed by Ethan Coen and written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. Cooke and Coen have a non-traditional marriage, as Cooke is queer and a lesbian. Coen and Cooke collaborated as writers for the first time, starting in 2002, for the script that would eventually become their first film together, Drive Away Dolls, and Cooke’s first screenwriting credit.
Cooke’s witty writing gives the film its queer flair, and Coen’s obvious skills as a neo-noir director work together to wonderful effect with this buoyant comedy with dark edges and outrageous spurts of violence. It has an eye for the beauty of the desert and women, especially Honey and the mysterious Cher, played by Lera Abova.
Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, Lera Abova, and Chris Evans co-star in the film, and all of the actors really give their all to their characters and lean into the comedy of the film.
Aubrey Plaza plays Honey’s romantic interest and police officer, and they engage in a lusty romance with some pretty wild and hot scenes. It’s nothing graphic, and some of it is played for laughs, but they have good chemistry. Plaza is playing against type, which might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it is the actress trying something different.
Charlie Day is hilariously obtuse as a horny detective who never gets the hint that Honey isn’t interested. Chris Evans gets to go wild, and it’s a pleasure to see him use his comedic skills as a self-obsessed cult leader who seems to have little interest in religion and spends most of his time indulging in sinful activities. He doesn’t get that Honey is a lesbian either, as he, too, tries (and fails) to hit on the lovely lady. If you only remember him as the dour Captain America or miss his work in Knives Out, you will enjoy him as Reverend Drew Devlin. It’s the most fun I have seen him have as an actor in a while.
The film has great style, with a truly amusing title sequence made up of cleverly placed signs, but at its center, there is a subversive longing for romance and human connection in a dangerous world that is the film’s emotional center. Women, especially Honey and her niece, are the film’s core, as it shows the everyday trials of being an attractive woman having to deal with men and women as romantic partners.
You can take the film as a light, yet violent romp, or you can look deeper into that inner longing that points out how tough it can be just to exist as a woman. The plot takes some twists and turns and has some surprises in store for you. The film is the second in a planned “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” and it is easy to see how Honey O’Donahue could return in a third film that could continue the story.
Ari Wegner, the Australian cinematographer who also lensed Lady Macbeth, makes the most of the Bakersfield setting, which I have never seen look so good before. Seriously, take a bow, Wegner and Bakersfield.
Honey Don’t! is a highly pleasurable film and has a multi-layered brilliance, taking the neo-noir formula, creating what might be the first lesbian private detective, and running with an absurdist tone that works well with the subgenre. The film, and its heroine, are delightfully deadpan, and it comes with spurts of ridiculous violence and sly commentary on our world.
