Rating: R | Runtime: 123 minutes
Release Date: September 23rd, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director(s): Olivia Wilde
Writer(s): Katie Silberman / Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke and Katie Silberman (story)

The one thing they ask of us is to stay here. Where it’s safe.

It’s sometimes tough to separate the film from the noise. After countless rumors and speculation getting the whole world to turn on Olivia Wilde in a not so ironic nod to the misogynistic themes of the movie itself, going into Don’t Worry Darling devoid of preconceptions proved impossible. Would I find Harry Styles’ performance lacking because I heard it was? (He’s fine.) Would I find the messaging shallow because everyone else said so? (They were correct.) Or would I discover that the work’s real problem was the fact that it kept reminding me of better films?

That familiarity isn’t a deal breaker, but it does put a damper on the experience. And the reason is unfortunately a backhanded compliment insofar as saying that Katie Silberman’s script possesses real intrigue. There’s good tension in the obvious “through the looking glass” nature of the whole. The production design is wonderful and the imagery used to signal when Alice (Florence Pugh) is remembering something from a past that has seemingly been erased is effective. It all gets our minds pointed to the only logical answer that can exist and that ease has us anticipating a left turn that sadly doesn’t come.

Because it shouldn’t be that simple. Not unless you’re going to subvert the expectations Hollywood has conditioned us to predict. But we get no smart reversal or surprise revelation. We only receive exactly that which we knew we would. Not only that, but it’s presented in a way that seems to believe Alice—the perfect wife for her perfect husband (Styles’ Jack) in the perfect home (Victory)—has a choice. Peel back the layers that Wilde and company present, however, and it’s pretty clear that she doesn’t. Consciousness does not equal consent. So, letting her pause and consider the status quo undercuts the entire premise of her prison.

It’s funny. I had completely forgotten all the comparisons made between Chris Pine’s character (Victory’s steward, Frank) and Jordan Peterson until I started thinking to myself “Man, that’s some real Jordan Peterson nonsense.” Then it clicked. And clicked even further when the film finally turns the clock back to reveal Alice and Jack’s origins.

Waiting that long to receive this exposition via flashback is crucial, though, because it allows the game to unfold. The script’s structure (and Wilde’s direction) is quite good at showing us only what we need at any given time. I just wish it was in service of having something more to say since its abruptness ultimately prevents it from having to say anything. It tries to equate showing its strings with insight. The result feels like a TV pilot cliffhanger meant to force the suits into greenlighting the real meat of the story via a full season pick-up that isn’t coming.

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© 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Caption: FLORENCE PUGH as Alice in New Line Cinema’s “DON’T WORRY DARLING,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.