The reviews are in and it's not looking good for Don't Worry Darling.Critics haven't been kind to Olivia Wilde's directorial baby in reviews ahead of the film's release on September 23. Questions have been asked regarding the film's ability to be successful regardless of the many off-screen controversies surrounding its cast. However, if the latest batch of reviews are anything to go by, it's not looking good.
Much of the criticism has to do with the film's concept and the direction Wilde took with it. The Daily Beast called the film a "hollow Black Mirror knockoff."
"It’s always good to see an emerging woman director shepherd a large-scale project like this, with plum resources and a deluxe cast," wrote David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter. "But Don’t Worry Darling is obvious even when it turns outlandish."
Rooney also criticized the film's "big reveal" towards the end, claiming it "should have been sent back to the writer's room." He said it "seems just a bit basic that it all points to a nefarious movement to combat the emasculation of the fragile male and the advancement of women seeking career fulfillment and financial independence — like the most elementary feminist cartoon take on male oppression."
A big draw of the film is the casting of Harry Styles. Styles stars alongside Florence Pugh, both of whom play a married couple. While Pugh's performance has been praised, the same can't be said for Styles.
Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast writes, "The musician is like a deer in headlights throughout much of the proceedings, and a scene of him crying in the car following a particularly fiery row with Pugh is littered with more crocodile tears than Charlie Sheen being hauled out of his office by the cops at the end of Wall Street (not to mention, his bastardized British accent is a distraction)."
Again, Pugh's performance as Alice is one of the few aspects of the film that has received praise so far.
Kate Erbland of IndieWire wrote, "Pugh makes a meal of Alice and, frankly, everyone else. Her many co-stars turn in serviceable performances with occasional bits of brilliance, but no one comes close to her."
While the initial reviews have been great for Pugh, they've been terrible for almost everyone else involved. Will the film's commercial success make up for its current critical failure? We'll have to wait and see.