Don't Worry Darling - An Intriguing Enough Slow Burn Drama Mystery Thriller Movie

This was actually the first movie that my wife and I saw during our movie marathon day yesterday. But I only write it today as it require longer time for me to write since it is a more complex type of film. There were 2 other movies that we both were considering but ultimately we decided to see this as the time was just right, plus we were intrigued by the premise. OK, why don't I just get right to it then.

Brief Story Line

A young couple of Alice (Florence Pugh - Little Women, The Black Widow etc) and her husband Jack (Harry Styles - Dunkirk) were living in a small town of Victory in the 1950s. Alice was best friend with her neighbor Bunny (Olivia Wilde - DC League of Super Pets, The Lazarus Effect etc). All the men of the neighborhood always work everyday at the Victory's headquarter while the wives would stay home cleaning house, cooking dinner and occasionally went for shopping. Only thing the wives were not allowed to was to go to the headquarter which was located in the desert.

One day though, during a company's event hosted by Victory's boss Frank (Chris Pine - The Contractor, Star Trek Beyond etc) and his wife Shelley (Gemma Chan - Captain Marvel, Eternals etc), one of the employee's wife seemed to have a breakdown that made people uneasy. Alice later also found something which made her began to suspect something was not right at Victory. 

So what was actually happening at Victory? You could find them out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

As both of us did not know the plot of the movie at all, especially with such brief synopsis stated in the various cinemas websites, it made us pretty intrigued. When looking a bit of the trailer, we were under the impression it looked like The Stepford Wives probably due to the 1950s make up and setting. It was even more strengthened by the various songs from that period. I also have guessed that this type of movie would be slow burn, so I was content watching the movie as it progressed gradually while waiting for the mystery to unfold.

Funny thing was despite the mystery of what was actually happening in the small town of Victory, I did not push my mind to guess & think and just continue watching it. Which was why when the mystery was finally revealed, it managed to surprise me and my wife. We thought it was pretty intelligent and we were also satisfied with the ending which my wife particularly praised and enjoyed. However, we could also understand if general audience might feel this movie to be aimless especially with that kind of ending.

For me personally though, I thought there were times when the scenes of hallucination and specifically that harmonized dancing were too frequently shown. Those felt unnecessary and did not have any added value, aside from possibly being artistic. The movie's duration for the one released in Indonesia was 2 hours but when I checked on the official movie website, it was supposed to be 123 minutes. That would mean around 3 minutes of the scene were cut by Indonesian censorship body, likely the sex scenes as there were plenty of romantic scenes involved in the movie. 

As a drama mystery thriller movie, my wife and I actually enjoyed this one. It might not have been an amazing film, but it was actually pretty well done to our opinion. The film was directed by Olivia Wilde herself who previously made the critically acclaimed Booksmart which made her became the in-demand director by big studios. Unfortunately this time it was not as well received by critics, though audience seemed to be a bit more appreciative. There were even some negative publicity of the movie's production involving some of the cast. Oh there was no mention that this movie was based on any books, so the writers Katie Silberman, Carey and Shane Van Dyke should be admired for their creativity. 

There were also a quite large cast involved in the movie. Aside from the names I mentioned above, there were the appearance of Kiki Layne (Coming 2 America, Native Son etc) as one of Alice's friend Margaret and Nick Kroll (Sing 2, The Secret Life of Pets 2 etc) as Bunny's husband Dean and few others. I personally liked Chris Pine who seemed to be perfect as the charismatic leader of Victory. Florence Pugh also garnered a lot of attention for her performance here. 

Overall to me, this was a pretty interesting thriller movie. The mystery unfolding that was done gradually was OK and the revelation though might not have been the most original but still quite entertaining. I also admired the wonderful setting and the very colourful sceneries of the movie which was lovely to see. In the end, this is a matter of taste. My wife and I did enjoy the movie and we also understand if not all people would have liked and appreciate this. So if you are interested in this kind of movie, then you could probably enjoy it. However if a more thrilling movie and not the slow burn type is more to your liking, then this likely would not suit you. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars