(1) Coen Brother Has A New Movie With Aubrey Plaza, Margaret Qualley, Chris Evans, & Charlie Day That Has Bigtime Fargo Vibes, But Do We Need TWO Brothers?
"A dark comedy about Honey O’Donahue, a small-town lesbian detective who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church."
Feels like Hollywood is having a slight resurgence right now for original movies. I don't expect 'Honey Don't!' to break the box office bank but it's good to see smaller scale stories still getting made. And what an absolutely stacked cast... Aubrey Plaza & Margaret Qualley going head to head in the sweaty desert? SOLD!
And as a huge Sunny fan it's great to see Charlie continue to branch out, and maybe Chris Evans can expand on his signature douche-ness vibe from 'Knives Out' too.
But as Stephen A. Smith would say, HOWEVA...
Can we really trust (1) singular Coen Brother to pull off what (2) usually do so well? I know they've been doing their own thing for a few years now but the praise hasn't exactly been high for the solo projects so far.
Margaret Qualley seems to be the new muse of this brother since they just made 'Drive Away Dolls' together last year. It's got 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, 5.4/10 on IMDB, with high praise for Qualley but a feeling of confusion about the story pacing & depth. Almost like...something was missing... from the formula...
Not great Bob!
And that's coming from a huge Coen Brothers fan. Aren't many if any filmmakers as unique as them when it comes to blending slow burning tension with demented dark comedy and extreme violence in such a complete way. Off the top I'd say these are my Top 3 CB movies:
1) 'No Country For Old Men'
2) 'The Big Lebowski'
3) 'Raising Arizona'
At the very bottom of that list and all film lists is 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs', that movie fucking SUCKED and was the 1st domino to fall in making me wonder, even together have these 2 BROTHERS lost a step?
There would be no shame in that, they've already had a hall of fame career. But why still go out there on the mound just to throw 85 MPH with no movement?
But hey, no shame I guess if Ethan Cohen just wants to go solo for love of the game, and the cast is stacked enough that this movie is probably worth a random matinee. I will say though, as far as superheroes playing maniacal pastors go, Chris Evans has A LOT to live up to in this role. Robert Battinson already set the bar HIGH in 'The Devil All The Time'.
That's worth a watch on a rainy day. A+ cast and definitely has some Coen vibes to it.
Mark it 8, Dude.
PS: if you still haven't watched 'The Substance' also do that immediately, definitely my favorite film of 2024 and such a unique vibe of dark comedy & body horror & maximum Margaret Qualley, keep it in mind. And take care of yourself out there :)