To watch or not to watch: “Don’t Worry Darling”

“Don’t Worry Darling,” there aren’t any spoilers in this piece!

If you’ve been on social media at all in the last few months, you’re almost certain to have run across something related to Olivia Wilde’s newest directorial creation, “Don’t Worry Darling.” Maybe you’ve seen Harry Styles supposedly spitting on Chris Pine at the film premiere, or maybe I’m just deeply engrained in “Film Twitter.” Regardless, the movie was finally released worldwide on Friday, Sept. 23, only to be met with harsh criticism from critics and audiences alike.

Now, I love a good fiasco, so I shimmied on down to the Regal this weekend, bought an $8 bin of popcorn that my boyfriend and I finished before the previews ended and mentally prepared myself for the s***show about to begin. And you know what… 

I didn’t completely hate it. 

Don’t get me wrong, nothing about this film stood out as an Oscar winner or even a nominee, nor did it exemplify writing or direction that lived up to Wilde’s debut “Booksmart.” With all that to say though, I just can’t blame a movie for putting itself out there creatively, and Wilde does just that. 

Set in the experimental utopian town of Victory, Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) live a seemingly perfect life, until imperfect cracks leading to a sinister truth start making Alice question why she’s there and what secrets Victory is hiding.

It’s a fun premise. Who doesn’t love a good utopian society, right? The first act brings interesting questions, beautiful imagery and plot points that will leave you on the edge of your seat wanting to know more. Up until about the midpoint of the film, I stayed entirely captivated and immersed in the world that Wilde had created. With a cast of star-studded actors, all of the things that I’m sure made this movie fun to shoot really showed through in the first act. The set pieces were fun and extravagant, perfect for the world that Wilde created.

However, I don’t think the plot lived up to the other aspects of the film that made it so great. Halfway through the second act, I noticed that the story started raising a lot of questions and problems that the film either ran out of time to answer or just forgot about altogether. I also hadn’t minded Styles’ acting up to this point, but once the more emotional beats started to hit, it was clear how much stronger of an actor his counterpart Pugh was.

The ending felt really rushed, something that another 30 minutes might have helped solve, and I really wanted to know more about Alice’s backstory (we only get glimpses of it near the end). The glimpses helped a little, but if the audience walks out asking why they should care about the main character, something’s missing. 

Overall: nothing super special, in fact pretty mediocre. I still enjoyed watching it though, and I think it poses some really interesting questions about how we balance technology and existence as technology continues to become a bigger aspect of life. So give it a watch and support a female director! (Oh and don’t listen to RottenTomatoes, they usually don’t know what they’re talking about).