Honey Don’t (2025)
Directed by: Ethan Coen
Premise: A private detective (Margaret Qualley) investigates the suspicious death of a client, discovering links to a corrupt preacher (Chris Evans).
What Works: Honey Don’t was co-written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke who previously wrote Drive-Away Dolls and the new film plays as a companion piece to their 2024 picture. Like their previous effort, Honey Don’t is a neo-noir mystery led by lesbian characters and includes explicit sexuality. Honey Don’t is a character piece and the strongest aspects of the film is its performances. Margaret Qualley plays the private detective who investigates the death of a client while romancing a police officer played by Aubrey Plaza and searching for her missing niece played by Talia Ryder. Qualley commands her scenes with authority but she also has moments of compassion with her niece and with a new client (Billy Eichner) who suspects his partner is unfaithful. Aubrey Plaza is also impressive. There is a lot happening underneath her performance. Chris Evans plays against his Captain America image as he did in Knives Out, cast here as a pastor who takes advantage of the women in his congregation and who uses his church as a front to traffic drugs. Evans is willing to throw himself into the role and the character is both funny and despicable. The sex scenes of Honey Don’t are interesting in a variety of ways but they serve in the characterization, communicating the way these people relate to one another.
What Doesn’t: Ethan Coen’s films (especially those made with his brother Joel Coen) tend to prioritize character over story. That isn’t necessarily a bad choice but it is the fatal flaw of Honey Don’t. The story is a mess. Qualley’s character begins by investigating the death of a client and is then pulled into the search for her missing teenage niece. The various narrative strands don’t intersect, at least not in a meaningful way. The subplot of the corrupt pastor has potential but it doesn’t really go anywhere and gets resolved too simply. The climax of Honey Don’t is a surprise but not in a way that makes sense. The randomness of life and the meaningless of so much societal violence is a common theme in Coen’s films but there’s no revelation in Honey Don’t. It doesn’t say anything interesting or novel about its themes and ideas.
Bottom Line: Honey Don’t is mildly interesting as a character piece but as a detective story the film is at best disjointed. The picture often plays as a random collection of scenes and even if that’s the point Honey Don’t is unsatisfying.
Episode: #1063 (September 7, 2025)