Rating: R

Stars: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Lera Abova, Jacnier, Gabby Beans, Talia Ryder, Charlie Day, Kristen Connolly, Josh Pafchek, Billy Eichner

Writers: Ethan Coen & Tricia Cooke

Director: Ethan Coen

Distributor: Focus Features

Release Date: August 22, 2025

HONEY DON’T! takes its title from the 1957 Carl Perkins song, and then bestows it (replacing the “T” with an “ahue”) on protagonist Honey Donahue (Margaret Qualley).

Honey is a private eye working the mean streets of Bakersfield, California, and surrounding areas. She investigates mostly cheating spouses, though she’s apt to chase away clients with advice to just patch things up.

Honey also has a keen sense of ‘50s style in her wardrobe, and a love-‘em-and-leave-‘em attitude toward the ladies. This is until she hooks up with local police officer MG Falcone (Aubrey Plaza), who seems such a kindred spirit that things might get serious.

Meanwhile, there’s a mystery surrounding the death of a young woman that’s been ruled a car accident. Since the deceased had contacted Honey a day before the crash, the detective feels a moral obligation to do some digging.

We know from the start, though Honey does not, that the woman was somehow connected to the church of Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans).

Director Ethan Coen and his co-writer Tricia Cooke go for the dark droll tone that is associated with the films of the Coen Brothers (Ethan in collaboration with sibling Joel). There’s eccentricity and quirkiness interspersed with merciless bloody murder and an intricate plot.

The story aspect of HONEY DON’T! ultimately plays more or less fair with the audience. The pieces fit together so differently than we might at first expect that it takes some consideration to realize there are connections between certain elements – although there is at least one whopping coincidence.

Qualley is delightful as the hard-to-flap gumshoe, though both she and Charlie Day as an obtuse police detective have accents that sound more like ‘50s general cinema than Kern County, CA. This seems intended as part of the aesthetic, but it feels more like an elbow to the ribs.

For that matter, there are some riffs in HONEY DON’T! that seem more like the filmmakers completely amusing themselves than keeping things lively for the viewers. The movie swings back and forth between being entertaining and having an in-joke quality of not knowing to quit once the point is made.

HONEY DON’T! was primarily shot in New Mexico, with some location work in Bakersfield. The blasted parking lots, modest shopping areas and rundown neighborhoods are convincingly depressing, providing an odd contrast with the action.

Plaza is on target with her dour cop and Evans is smooth as the self-adoring huckster of the cloth.

HONEY DON’T! is largely diverting, and it’s beautifully made, but the final effect is somewhere between a short dark comedy thriller movie and an extended film noir sketch.

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