The Chambers and their neighbors - which include glam cocktail queen Bunny (Wilde) and her go-getter husband, Dean (Nick Kroll) - party hard together at night in their restricted enclave and then the wives wave off their husbands at exactly the same time each morning as they head out in their rainbow-hued convertibles to drive across the desert to Victory headquarters, where the women are forbidden to venture. The pristine suburban enclave works in smooth lockstep. But the screenplay - a Black List title by brothers Carey and Shane Van Dyke, retooled by Katie Silberman, one of Wilde’s writers on Booksmart - doesn’t come together with persuasive revelations once the cracks in the utopia have been laid bare. Arianne Phillips’ retro-chic fashion-spread costumes and Katie Byron’s swanky midcentury-modern sets (Palm Springs, California, is the direct reference) are a glossy visual feast, even if there’s a hint of Ryan Murphy-style art-directorial excess. But there’s nothing complex or subversive behind that façade of perky housewives and roosts ruled by men.
In place of racism, Don’t Worry Darling creeps us out with the rigid enforcement of antiquated gender roles - a 1950s patriarchal order bent on convincing women that homemaking and raising children are the ultimate aspiration while keeping them in the dark about the mysteries of their husbands’ work for the company. But the film has just as much in common with the blunt social commentary of shows like Amazon’s Them or movies like George Clooney’s Suburbicon, which wrenched fear and alienation out of Black trauma while finding nothing enlightening to say about it. While Wilde has cited mind-benders like Inception, The Matrix and The Truman Show as inspirations, only the last of those comes to mind while watching, alongside The Stepford Wives. Is he just a magnetic screen presence who looks fabulous in 1950s threads, or an actor capable of depth and nuance? He’s fine in the role, but based on this, the jury’s still out. When things turn dark and strange and Jack’s idealized world is threatened, that’s when doubts arise about Styles’ range.
#JPG OLIVIA WILDE HOUSE CHARACTER MOVIE#
The early part of the movie - a nonstop river of cocktails fueling a whirl of parties during which Jack and his wife, Alice (Pugh), can’t keep their hands off each other - is so damn sexy you might want to move into the mysterious Victory Project community and disregard the signs of something sinister behind all the smiling faces and perfect marriages. She’s 10 years his senior! How dare she! Leaving all that nonsense aside - it’s their business, people, relax - Styles carries himself with confidence as eager young company man and loving but increasingly conflicted husband Jack Chambers. One of the big draws, of course, is “It” boy Harry Styles, whose rabid fans appear to feel such deranged ownership that they’ve scarcely refrained from burning Wilde effigies to decry their off-camera relationship. Screenwriters: Katie Silberman, Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke Venue: Venice Film Festival (Out of Competition)Ĭast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, Chris Pine
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