I instantly recognized the first song as “Night Time Is the Right Time,” an R&B classic that's perhaps best remembered as the Ray Charles number the Huxtables lip-synched to (with little Rudy going to town on her “ Bay-baaaay”s) in a famed episode of The Cosby Show. Although the conversation has a boisterous, modern vivacity, the décor and costuming suggest the late 1950s or early '60s, as does the first of what will feel like a Scorsese-marathon's worth of background pop tunes. Wilde's followup to 2019's vastly superior Booksmart opens with an exuberant, drunken cocktail party among suburban friends, including its hostess Alice Chambers (Pugh), wife to up-and-coming business executive Jack (Styles). The polished, mediocre Don't Worry Darling doesn't do much to inspire either reaction. And until the Big Twist (which isn't that big a twist) lands toward the end, there's so much repetition in the narrative, with so many stylistic gambits replayed over and over, that I, for one, left amazed that Wilde and Silberman needed more than two hours to tell such a puny story. Yet the film is frustrating because we always seem to be one step ahead of our protagonist, who takes an eternally long time to figure out things that most viewers will glean from the start. Katie Silberman's screenplay boasts some solid ideas, the images have a memorably crisp hyper-clarity, and several supporting performances, particularly Pine's, are first-rate. It isn't great and it isn't awful it just kind of is. In truth, now that Don't Worry Darling can actually be seen, we're faced with perhaps the most disappointing outcome imaginable: Wilde's movie is neither entertaining enough to transcend the pre-release snark, nor embarrassing enough to make that snark feel juicily prescient. Well, the short answer to the “Is it as enjoyable as the accompanying drama?” question is no, it's not. On-set screaming matches between director Olivia Wilde and star Florence Pugh! The firing or quitting of original leading man Shia LaBeouf! Wilde leaving longtime romantic partner (and father of her two kids) Jason Sudeikis for new leading man Harry Styles! Celebrities refusing to stand next to one another on the red carpet! Styles reportedly spitting on co-star Chris Pine! So many schadenfreude-rific truths/rumors to unpack! It was whether the film could possibly be as much fun as the social-media hysteria surrounding its release. In the days and weeks preceding the movie's nationwide debut, the burning question regarding Don't Worry Darling wasn't whether the psychological thriller would be good, or even simply fun.
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