Spoilers ahead!
Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, released Sept. 23, is a psychological thriller movie starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh as Jack and Alice. The movie takes place in a utopian town called Victory in the 1950s where everything appears almost too perfect to be true. Victory is a company town where men go to work every day and their wives stay inside the community as housewives. The movie starts off by portraying the idealized town, showing Alice’s routine of enjoying luxury and doing basic chores once Jack leaves for work. Jack and the other men’s work is ambiguous and unclear to their wives and the audience.
The plot progresses by showing how Alice’s routine life begins to crumble. She questions her entire life in Victory, starting to be skeptical about the project and what the husbands really do when they go off to their work filled with secrecy. Ultimately, Alice is sent to electric shock therapy which leads her to recall her previous memories before Victory. It turns out that Alice and Jack live in the present in the real world. Alice worked as a doctor and Jack was unhappy because he did not earn enough money and barely got to see Alice. Wanting a better life and a better relationship, Jack signed up for the experimental Victory simulation and transported himself and Alice into it for the perfect life he desires.
Don’t Worry Darling has been on headlines nonstop and has already made a total of $30 million globally. People have had strong opinions on the acting, the plot and the plot twist, as well as the overall theatrics and directing. Read on to learn more about how the movie has been received after the continuous interest shown in it this year.
the acting
The reaction to the acting in the movie has generally been positive, though some people did have mixed opinions. Florence Pugh’s acting was praised all over social media. Twitter users said that Florence Pugh “never disappoints” and that she “owns the psych-thriller genre.” People have praised Chris Pine for his acting as Frank as well, calling his character “captivating.” A user on Twitter stated that all of the cast members’ acting was “outstanding.”
Harry Styles has gotten some criticism for his acting on social media. Especially after some clips from the movie were released, people thought that his accent was confusing and that his acting was exaggerated or funny in certain scenes. The car scene in which he yells at Alice and cries received criticism, getting negative responses like this Tweet and this Tweet.
But some thought that his acting was actually pretty good, like this account posted. Another user said that Harry’s acting was “perfectly reasonable” and even “excellent in places.” So it is safe to say that there is some mixed opinions about it but that most people think that the overall acting is good.
The plot Twist
The plot twist towards the ending of the movie that tied everything together generated a great response overall. Many thought that the plot twist was surprising and that it made the ending really exciting, like this user. Another person said that they could not stop thinking about the plot twist.
Someone said that all of the characters being in a simulation was predictable since Alice kept experiencing the glitches and things did not make sense in that world but that the women being put in the simulation by the men without their consent was the real plot twist and unpredictable part. Generally, the plot twist was received positively and many thought that it made the movie unique. Some people also found the open ending so exciting that they wanted more of it.
the directing
Olivia Wilde’s directing was called “incredible,” “great” and “amazing” by people around social media. Someone said that the directing pulled them in throughout the movie. Another user expressed how they could tell Olivia Wilde was passionate about directing and that her directing was well thought-out. Irish actor Eve Hewson said that Olivia Wilde crushed it and that it was “totally worth a trip to the movies.”
It was also called dull and “overheated” by newspapers such as the Washington Post. A magazine called Datebook stated that Wilde’s directing led the movie to become “less intriguing as it goes along” and for it to slip into “predictability.” A lot of people thought that the negative response to Wilde’s directing was because she is a female filmmaker. Someone said that calling Wilde a bad director without proper criticism on her directing skills is sexist, given that her first film was a success. Some thought that people are much stricter when criticizing Wilde’s directing because she is a woman. Overall, while some found Wilde’s directing to be really great, some thought that it could have been better.
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