“Don’t Worry Darling” was released, on September 23, 2022, despite the mass amount of drama and headlines regarding it in the news. However, the question on everyone’s mind is, “was it worth it?”

In the movie, Alice Chambers, played by Florence Pugh, lives in a perfect town that looks like it is still in the 1950s. All the men living in the community leave to work on the Victory Project, and all the women of the town stay home and enjoy each other’s company. As Alice lives and enjoys her life with the many other women in the community, she notices strange things going on in the town. There are earthquakes that the men and some of the women never notice, and when she sees her reflection, the body shown back is not hers.

Alice’s husband, Jack Chamber (Harry Styles), is also very defective whenever Alice brings up her concerns with the town. Although Jack shows some love for Alice, he seems odd and disinterested in her. This movie follows Alice as she tries to uncover the truth about what is going on in her town.

The movie does well with making things seem more eerie and mysterious. While the first part of the film is a good thriller horror film, the second half is not. The mystery is intriguing overall. However, once Alice starts to uncover the truth, the setup falls apart and leaves a long line of inconsistencies and ignored plots. What makes the movie worse is the ending and its shocking reveal.

The ending reveals Alice had been living in a simulation while her husband worked in the real world. The twist reveals Jack was unemployed and was jealous of his wife for being successful and preferred having a traditional lifestyle as people had in the 1950s, which is what the simulation replicated. The film’s big plot twist was good. However, none of the previous events in the movie are mentioned or explained. Throughout the movie a woman dies, there are earthquakes, and a plane crashes, Alice makes theories, but there is never an answer or explanation.

A good mystery needs to be well thought out, and all the questions should be answered at the conclusion of the movie if it matters to the plot. Alice’s discoveries are important, and having multiple characters who know the truth should lead to her findings being explained and what they truly meant since all good mysteries need a perfect ending.

Half of “Don’t Worry Darling” had a promising story but it was abandoned. It may be due to the troubled production, but it is clear something went wrong after the writing process or during the directing stage since it was directed by, Olivia Wilde, whose entire directing career has led to some of the most critically and financially unsuccessful films. This may also explain the performances by Harry Styles and Chris Pine which seem very low effort and uninterested in the movie they are a part of. The movie has great editing and actual spooky moments however, it does not make up for the lack of care in the story and character decisions that made an incoherent mess.

Overall the film had great music, editing, and designs with costumes and settings. However, the writing holds the movie back from being another masterpiece that it was so clearly originally intended to be.