Margaret Qualley shines in a dark, LGTBQIA+ dark comedy
that’s not as bright as her performance
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“Take notes … I’m the best thing about this film and you
know it.” Honey O’Donahue (Margaret Qualley) investigates
in a scene from Ethan Coen’s HONEY DON’T! Credit:
Karen Kuehn © 2025 Focus Features LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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HONEY DON’T!
There are exactly two reasons to see HONEY DON’T, the second installment of Ethan Coen’s “lesbian b-movie trilogy” written alongside his lesbian, non-traditional partner Tricia Cooke: (1) To watch Margaret Qualley, who stars as a queer, Bakersfield, CA-private eye that’s more masculine 1925 than she is 2025 in her demeanor, own every scene she’s in and (2) the gratuitous surely to some and likely not gratuitous enough to others nudity and sex crammed into the film’s 90 minute run-time. (Those who cheered the removal of the Pulse Nightclub crosswalk in Florida need not buy a ticket for reasons that should now be overtly obvious.
Moral objections to seeing LGTBQIA+ characters on screen – along with possibly the most corrupt preacher of the year in Chris Evans as drug dealing, murdering, fornicating church leader Drew Devlin – notwithstanding, HONEY DON’T finds Qualley outperforming the thin-yet-familiar material she is given to work with at every turn. That’s not to suggest that the other actors don’t bring their best to their roles as much it is to say what they were given to work with is b-movie pulp at best and sometimes, not in the best way. The film is far better, however, than the first installment in the Coen/Cooke three-pack, the long-forgotten, ostensibly goofy Drive-Away Dolls, but it’s staying power – outside of those who long to stare at star actors naked and/or REALLY enjoy ALL Coen brothers films (not just the hits) – is minor. Charlie Day adds a few laughs as a clueless detective, there are the standard schlubby/mysterious foreign Coen characters and quirky violence leading to a climax … But Bound, this is not.
So, if you’re wondering if you should put HONEY DON’T on your honey-do list, the answer is … Maybe – if you have 90 minutes to kill or just want to see an actress make honey out of a rather spent hive of a story that could have delivered so much more.
