Have you ever watched a movie by a writer / director who was trying too hard to be another writer /director? In this case that would be Ethan Cohen trying too hard to be Shane Black when it comes to making dark comedic detective stories. Unfortunately, Ethan Cohen is not that good without his brother Joel when it comes to making movies. I love the Coen brothers as filmmakers. From comedic masterpieces like Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski to dark thrillers like No Country for Old Men, the pair have made wonderful movies, but when it comes to flying solo, Ethan Cohen is just not that good! Honey Don’t is a film trying to be something that it’s not while not really deciding what kind of film it wants to be. And it has nothing to do with the cast, Margaret Qualley is amazing. Aubrey plaza is also great in this movie. Chris Evans proves that not only can he play the hero, but a dark and twisted comedic villain that keeps you interested until the end of the movie. I remember saying to myself last year after watching Drive Away Dolls which is not a good movie that it may take a few at bats for Ethan Cohen to find his swing as a solo artist. Sadly, after his second venture, it’s a very dismal strike too. Don’t get me wrong, the film does have its moments, but this is a very forgettable movie that is certainly not on the level as a typical Cohen Brothers film. *-
There’s a good story somewhere in Honey, Don’t… it’s the delivery and the pacing that makes this movie less than stellar. It seems like Ethan Cohen has found his muse in Margaret Qualley and she is great for his filmmaker canvas, but sadly the stories have to be better. I love a good old-school detective story, and this movie very much feels like an old school ’30s noir detective film right down to the use of language which feels out of place for a small Southern California town. The characters seem like they’re from New York. It was very off-putting, but Margaret Qualley is good in the film. There’s definitely more stories that can be told with her character as a lesbian female private investigator. She has certainly come into her own as an actress and it feels like she’s been doing this forever. Charlie Day is funny and like I mentioned before Chris Evans gives a great performance as an unsavory minister who deals drugs, But to me Ethan Cohen is trying to remake a movie like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang…an old school detective story with snappy dialog that doesn’t quite land. And I love the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer are brilliant with their delivery of Shane Black’s wonderful dialogue. The death scenes are entertaining and funny, definitely the bright spot of the film. However, the best scenes are always with Margaret Qualley’s character of Honey. And I’m not talking about the lesbian sex scenes which are shot very well and do have some great dialogue. I do compliment this film for only being 90 minutes. It wasn’t too short, nor too long, but the story in a lot of ways feels more like a short film with a simple story that doesn’t leave you surprised by the end. The whodunnit in the movie is very underwhelming. To me this movie would have been better as a noir film. Even a black and white film with hints of color and perhaps a satirical style of noir films. The film doesn’t land like it supposed to, despite some really good moments in the movie.
Yeah, I didn’t totally hate it, there are plenty of moments that I did laugh and of course the cast is good. There are more than a few scenes where the brilliant dialogue of Cohen Brothers shines, but those moments are far and few. As I said there’s a good story in there somewhere, But I wonder what this movie would have been if both of the Coen Brothers had worked on it because they always seem to get best out of each other while making a movie. The script that Ethan and Tricia Cook wrote might have seemed good on the page, it just didn’t translate that well into the movie itself. Now Honey O’Donoghue is a great character and hopefully we haven’t seen the last of her, but a few good scenes with some wonderful characters can’t make a good movie overall. And while directors can play in the same sandbox and borrow similar styles and different techniques to make a film, if you just try to make a carbon copy of a film from the same genre which it seems like Ethan Cohen did then your film is not going to be good and very unforgettable. As an audience, we shouldn’t be watching a movie and thinking about another movie that’s similar and how we want to be watching that movie. Honey, Don’t just made me want to watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or The Nice Guys by Shane Black. If you haven’t seen other one of those movies, do yourself a fan of her and just watch those instead of this one. But if you’re curious enough to watch Honey, Don’t… catch it free on a streaming channel, It’s not worth the price of a movie ticket. But I do have faith that Ethan Cohen can write a much better story for his amazing character of Honey O’Donoghue… she is a great character that needs a better story because this movie isn’t it!
