DON’T WORRY DARLING
There’s been no shortage of drama around Olivia Wilde’s new movie, Don’t Worry Darling – from allegations of the cast falling out with each other to the director being served divorce papers on stage at CinemaCon, and Spitgate, the intense scrutiny of footage which may or may not have shown Harry Styles spitting on co-star Chris Pine at the premiere (both say there was no spitting).
If you’ve been wondering what the movie’s about or if it’s worth seeing, let’s take a look.
IS IT BASED ON A BOOK?
Nope, this psychological thriller is not a reboot, a remake or based on a book – it’s one of a rare handful of original movies released by a major studio.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Florence Pugh and Harry Styles play Alice and Jack Chambers who move to a brand new suburb in the California desert in the 1950s. Jack, and all the men in the town, work for something called the Victory Project and their spouses are basically Stepford Wives.
The Victory Project is run by Frank, played by Chris, who forbids his workers to tell their wives anything about their mysterious work.
AND THEN?
Alice notices something weird when one of the wives appears to lose her mind, only to be spirited away.
There’s also a dance sequence and some clever twisty-turny bits.
BUT IS IT ANY GOOD?
The reviews have been decidedly mixed. Most critics agree that the cast are pretty good and the movie looks gorgeous. “Pugh is superb, while Wilde confidently steps up to a bigger subject and budget to deliver a slick, beautiful film. It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but its flight to that point is fascinating,” said Empire magazine, while The Telegraph said the film is “largely fantastic: the sort of juicy but accessible studio production that have all but vanished since the 1990s”.