Don't Worry Darling * ½

Let me out of here!

I get the impression that this might have been an amusing story, but as it "evolved" it just got messier and messier. 

Florence Pugh plays Rose (performing quite well with some lousy dialogue).  She lives in an idyllic community in the 1950's. She, and all her neighbours are beautiful.  Each morning, the boys go off to work and then the girls do cocktails, shopping, dance class etc.  When hubby comes home the house is immaculate, she is looking immaculate, and dinner is in the oven and almost ready - and a little love making before dinner is welcome too.  

But something is not right, and Rose knows it.  She's getting unexpected visions of another world.  Her neighbour, Margaret has virtually figured it out and is causing disruptions in the community.

I have to say it looks good. The recreations of beautiful homes in the 1950's, gorgeous costumes, cars etc. But outside of that it's a mess!  The story line meanders, the pacing is slow, the message is confused, the revelation as to how this "idyllic" community has all come together is impossibly stupid. To explain itself it shows "another world" full of contrived misery, suggesting lazy selfish men and hard working, life saving, selfless women. I don't mind criticism of either gender but at least try and be mature and balanced about it!

Driving home afterwards I was thinking, how could a film be so glamorous and yet so shithouse? Despite my enjoyment of films I rarely read about what's going on behind the scenes. But on this occasion, trying to find out how this load of codswallop came together, I did some reading on it.  It makes for a much better story than the film itself with the original star being fired, the lead actress and director no longer on talking terms, with some of the lead characters declining to do press conferences, the director and one of the leading man developing a distracting mutual infatuation on set, and a tribe of screen writers being whistled up at the last minute to try and fix it.  

It's clearly indebted to Stepford Wives, and it doesn't say much more about gender relations beyond that greatly superior film which it has plundered.  It's directed by Olivia Wilde with a "screenplay" from Katie Silberman.  For me, that explains a lot. As far as I'm concerned they already proved  how incompetent they are with Booksmart.  Like that film, this too seems to beg for recognition for being so "woke".

Nevertheless, I have little  doubt Wilde will be given more money to make another film.  These days that seems to be the reward for producing a dud.  I'm glad these people aren't making aeroplanes.