Margaret Qualley’s Raunchy, R-Rated Comedy on Netflix Star-studded Ball of Confusion
By TeeJay Small | Published
I just sat down to watch 2025 Honey don’t on Netflix, and I quickly learned that the title of the film is actually more than an instruction manual. The movie offers some really witty dialogue, solid performances, and a stacked A-list cast that I tend to like. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t have a proper ending, so almost everything leading up to the credits feels like a huge waste of time. When the credits roll, I felt like I somehow got a boothed copy of the movie that accidentally cut out the entire last act.
Hard Boiled Noir Comedy
Let’s get into it. Honey don’t a dark neo-noir comedy written and directed by Joel Coen. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Joel is part of the legendary Coen’s team of filmmakers, responsible for delivering classics like. The Big Lebowski, Fargoagain Burn After Reading. Known for their quirky and stylish stuff, I went into this film expecting a little something, but left very disappointed. My frustration was exacerbated by the insane star power of this cast, which included Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, and It’s always sunny in PhiladelphiaIt’s Charlie’s day.
The layout of Honey don’t centers on the eponymous Honey O’Donahue (Margaret Qualley). He’s a smooth-talking private detective with an eye for beautiful women and great vintage cars. After a distressed late-night call from a client, Honey wakes up to learn that a young woman has been found dead on the side of the road, in a suspicious car accident. While investigating alongside the local police, Honey finds a stack of self-help books and cute church clothes, which lead her into some kind of twisted conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Chris Evans portrays a charismatic, womanizing cult leader named Reverend Drew Devlin. Devlin runs a congregation known as the Four-Way Temple, where he sleeps young women and forces men to smuggle drugs to fund the practice. He has a string of French suppliers who have become increasingly frustrated with his erratic behaviour, which has led to several well-hit jobs in recent weeks. Honey takes a breather from the job and, after stopping to start dating a cop named MG (Aubrey Plaza), goes in to question Devlin.
The questioning repeats itself in a way that feels sweet, stylized, and references a bygone era of hard-boiled mystery films, but goes nowhere. Just when it seems Honey has no leads left to investigate, her niece goes missing, and she believes Devlin is to blame. This is where things get completely out of whack. Devlin’s story ends 40 minutes into the film, when he is suddenly killed by his French connection. Then, Honey accidentally discovers that her own girlfriend is targeting and killing young women, and the whole church cult was a big red herring.
The Cinematic Equivalent of a Tuxedo Fart
Coen ham spouts some nonsense about MG hating stupid women because of his relationship with his dad or something, but none of it scans, and the entire final act falls flat on its face. Defining a line from Always sunnyFor Dennis Reynolds, the entire film is a series of crimes, then sex scenes, then crimes, intrusions, intrusions, intrusions, until … it ends.
You remember that job interview scene from the movie Step Brotherswhere Seth Rogen digs the brothers’ vibe, and praises their decision to wear tuxedos instead of suits? Then, after an uncontrollable seizure, Rogen rethinks his whole stance on the brothers, and notes “now tuxedos seem dead.” That’s a pretty good metaphor for how I felt watching this entire movie.
At first, I was surprised about the strange dialogue choices, the aesthetic period style, and the strange transatlantic way Margaret Qualley was starting to appear. When I realized that the film has no end, and each plot thread goes nowhere, all of that stuff became a frustrating waste of time.
I’m still disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this movie more, though Honey don’t it’s on Netflix now, in case you want to check it out for yourself.
