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With: Margaret Qualley, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Lera Abova, Gabby Beans, Talia Ryder, Jacnier, Kristen Connolly, Lena Hall, Don Swayze, Josh Pafchek, Billy Eichner
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Written by: Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke
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Directed by: Ethan Coen
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MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, some strong violence, and language
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Running Time: 88
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Date: 08/22/2025
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Don't Bother
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
The second in a proposed Lesbian B-movie trilogy from writer/director Ethan Coen and co-writer Tricia Cooke, Honey Don't! lacks the spark of the first entry, Drive-Away Dolls; it's amusing, but disconnected and aimless.
Honey O'Donahue (Margaret Qualley) is a private investigator in Bakersfield, California. When a potential client mysteriously dies in a car crash, Honey begins poking around. She finds a connection with a church run by cult leader Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans).
While digging for clues, she meets police officer MG Falcone (Aubrey Plaza) and they begin an affair. At the same time, she becomes worried about her niece, Corrine (Talia Ryder), who may be in an abusive relationship with a boyfriend. There's also a mysterious man hanging around town, and a mysterious French woman (Lera Abova) on a Vespa, as well as some shady drug deals, and more dead bodies. Honey must crack the mystery before she gets in too deep.
Honey Don't! — the title comes from the 1956 Carl Perkins song, though Wanda Jackson's 1964 cover version is played during the closing credits — is probably at least partly deliberately convoluted, as an homage to the hard-boiled pulp stories that inspired it. But the pieces don't snap together particularly well. There's no reward.
This has the effect of making the characters feel less rounded as well, although it's undeniable that Evans is having a ball playing the egomaniacal cult leader, and Plaza does what she does best as a cynical, brooding type.
Qualley is the best thing here — she also starred in Coen and Cooke's wildly gleeful Drive-Away Dolls — and Honey is a character that might have worked quite nicely in some other movie. (She has an incredible wardrobe, full of popping colors and silky fabrics, click-clacking in her stylish high heels.) She gets some big laughs early on with her snappy, deadpan delivery and no-nonsense approach. And she's an unabashedly sexual character, at a time when most filmmakers seem to be afraid of the subject.
While Cooke and Coen are married and are co-parents, Cooke identifies as queer and lesbian; together the couple are trying to reach an under-served audience with these movies, which is admirable. But Honey Don't just… doesn't.
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