Don’t Worry Darling (2022) features big names such as Florence Pugh (Alice), Chris Pine (Frank), and Harry Styles (Jack). Directed by Olivia Wilde (who isn’t really known for directing much else), Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller that leaves you with a lot of questions, and not necessarily the good kind.
Before I officially start the review, I want to give a HUGE SPOILER WARNING, as there are a lot of plot details that I am going to reveal. To summarize my opinions without spoilers: the cinematography is honestly quite good (an unexpected surprise), and, despite the poor writing, the acting is overall pretty good, with the only standout miss being Harry Styles. The overall plot and premise is interesting.
Now onto the spoiler stuff. As a dystopian psychological thriller that tries to use the “it's all a simulation” trope, there are too many plot holes to be fixed in 2 hours. Frank (Chris Pine) is the main antagonist/mastermind in the movie, but is utterly underutilized throughout the film. The film doesn't flesh out his motivations, his origin, or his purpose. The “Victory Project” (which is the movie’s main talking point) is never fully explained to the audience, and we still do not understand anything about what Frank was attempting to create with it. The motivation we get in the movie is that he “wants to create a better world,” but that seems more like the lie he tells those within the simulation, and isn’t really his driving force.
Second off, the editing of the movie is good and the creepy psychological moments do freak you out. The movie includes flashback sequences to Jack and Alice’s happy relationship prior to Jack forcing Alice into the simulation after a descent into insanity due to losing his job. These flashback sequences are really important in understanding the story, but the movie fails to fully depict them as flashbacks outside the simulation. While watching the movie, I was unable to distinguish that these moments were from outside the simulation, which made several reveals later in the movie harder to understand.
Thirdly, there are several holes in how the characters act that are never fully explained or justified. Margaret is the first wife to realize that something about the town feels odd, but they don’t establish much about how or why she found out. Frank, with the other controllers of the simulation, takes some of the worst approaches in trying to contain Margaret. Also, almost none of the wives other than Bunny discuss how they feel about either knowing the truth or discovering the truth, including Gemma Chan’s character Shelley, who is Frank’s wife. The movie lacks a reasonable explanation of Jack’s reasons for turning to the Victory Project. While I will blame part of this on Harry Styles’ acting (or lack thereof), it's also due to the poor writing. For Jack to lose his job and immediately turn to applying for a sketchy and absurd secret project involving kidnapping, drugging, and lying to Alice for her “betterment” is a large leap that needed more steps.
So how could any of this be solved? Well, other movies like The Matrix that take this premise do a better job because they spend more time explaining the story. I think that Don’t Worry Darling would have done a lot better as a TV show. Shows like WandaVision, and Westworld do better with similar “alternate reality” plot points because they have more time to flesh out the plot.
I really liked Frank as a character, despite the fact that he had what felt like only 5 minutes of screentime, and I liked the story and themes the movie was trying to present. I love this genre of storytelling -- dystopias and psychological thrillers -- because it can create a story that leaves people with the better kind of questions. However, Don’t Worry Darling felt rushed and filled with issues. Overall, the movie was not bad. It does have its highlights, and it was a good watch. The critics saying that the movie is “terrible” or “unwatchable” are exaggerating. I would recommend watching this to anyone, especially those who like the genre. But afterwards, I’d recommend dystopian psychological thrillers like Promised Neverland that really do the job well.