Yet She Does

[setsuled]

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A quick-witted, cynical private detective tackles a murder case in the desolate California town of Bakersfield in 2025's Honey Don't!. The second in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke's trilogy of lesbian B movies, this one's a substantial improvement on the first, Drive Away Dolls, which becomes tiresome by its third act. Honey Don't! is sweet from beginning to end.

Once again, Margaret Qualley is the lead, this time playing a PI named Honey O'Donahue. The cops call her in when a corpse in an overturned vehicle has her business card. Honey denies having the victim as a client but quietly begins looking into the matter. It turns out to be connected to a cheesy but popular Evangelical preacher played by Chris Evans. Honey is aided in her investigation by a cop named MG Falcone (Aubrey Plaza) who also becomes Honey's lover. Rounding out the impressive cast is Charlie Day as a police detective who can't stop flirting with Honey however many times she says, "I like girls!" and he always says, "You always say that!" as though this undercuts the veracity of her statement instead of buttressing it.

It's weird this movie's not a big hit. We truly live in a different world. Remember when people got mad at Tarantino for saying the characters, not the actors, are the real stars of the Marvel movies? Well, here's Captain America himself, Chris Evans, once again unable to sell tickets to a movie on the strength of his own name. And Aubrey Plaza's supposedly popular, too, and surely Qualley should be able to pull an audience after both Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Substance.

Critics who praised Drive Away Dolls rushed to give this one a bad review so they could seem like they were in step with the public that's rejecting these films. They don't really understand it, though. If you liked the noir-ish, firecracker dialogue of Miller's Crossing, you'll enjoy the dialogue in Honey Don't! Ethan Coen worked on both screenplays. The only difference is that Honey Don't! doesn't aim at something as profound. It aims to be a satisfying snack rather than a Thanksgiving feast and it accomplishes that. The reason that these movies aren't doing well at the box office is that people are afraid of being seen paying money to see movies about pulpy, lipstick lesbians. Meanwhile, Drive Away Dolls seems to be getting a lot of views on streaming and I imagine Honey Don't! will be a similar sleeper.

The public is still wary of seeing movies with homosexual main characters and the art house crowd generally only feels safe with them these days if they're also tragedies. I can't help thinking, again, that society is regressing. How long ago was it that Brigitte Bardot taught us we could enjoy movies about sexy women without having a sermon attached? I mean, an earnest sermon.