This new detective comedy will have you laughing, terrified and possibly quite aroused
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY FOCUS FEATURES
There’s arguably not much sexier than watching Margaret Qualley washing up dildos and anal beads while Aubrey Plaza is getting dressed in her police uniform next door. It’s sapphic heaven. Combine that with a spine-chillingly intimate sex scene, and you’re onto a winner.
Directed by Ethan Coen and written by Tricia Cooke, Honey Don’t is a detective comedy that is certainly off-beat, certainly dark and certifiably sexy. Marking the second film in Coen’s “lesbian B-movie trilogy” – the first being Drive Away Dolls – this new film stars Margaret Qualley, queer icon Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans.
After a mysterious car accident occurs in a sleepy small town, private investigator Honey (Qualley) starts to get suspicious about a very raunchy Church, led by a narcissistic, sexual deviant of a priest (Evans). Enlisting help from your local police lesbian (Aubrey), the film takes a number of twists and turns on its route to truth. Oh, and there’s quite a bit of fingering involved.
If you’re a sucker for deadpan delivery, small town trials and tribulations, and a whole lot of sex, Honey Don’t! is the film for you. Margaret Qualley shines in this role, embodying an old-school detective stuck in 2025 with her filofax. Aubrey’s characterisation is erratic, and sometimes borderline deranged, in a way that will only make sense in the film’s ending. Away from the steamy lesbian sex scenes, Chris Evans also acts as a point of comic relief, embodying the role of a preacher with tenacity.
From the title sequence it’s clear that capturing the small town desolation of Bakersfield, California is crucial to the plot. With sweeping scenes of deserts and closed shops, the strangeness of the plot is magnified, making it all the more absurd and hilarious. It pays homage to a number of classic detective and suspense tropes: strange French women making mysterious demands, assassins sneaking into houses and a cult laying in plain sight.
For 90 minutes, be prepared to enter into a small-town where everyone knows everything… but won’t do anything about it. If not for anything else, head to the cinema to see Margaret Qualley walking around in her “click-clacking heels” to seduce Aubrey Plaza. What could go wrong? Right?
Honey Don’t comes out on 5 September in UK cinemas.
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