Ethan Coen is well-known for the work he’s done with his brother Joel, including The Big Lebowski and No Country for Old Men, but last year he set out on his own to direct Drive-Away Dolls. Ethan is now back with a follow-up, which hit the 2025 movie calendar on August 22. Margaret Qualley also returns, starring in the dark comedy Honey Don’t! — the second of a lesbian B-movie trilogy from Coen. Critics screened the film ahead of its release, and they seem a bit conflicted on Ethan’s solo work.
Alongside Margaret Qualley in this second (but unrelated) movie from Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke are Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans, who play a police officer and cult leader, respectively. David Fear of Rolling Stone says Qualley’s performance as private investigator Honey O’Donahue was worthy of that Cannes standing ovation, as she is easily the best part, writing:
You can’t overstate how much her performance glides the movie over an abundance of rough patches and past dead-end detours. Honey is a recognizable archetype, the sort of pulp-fiction staple honed over decades of vintage publications, dog-eared paperbacks and B-movie double features. Such white knights with hourly rates are usually male and almost always straight, and while the idea of a queer female investigator poking around a case littered with corpses and double-crosses isn’t revolutionary in 2025, O’Donoghue is still an anomaly.
Jesse Hassenger of Paste rates the movie a 7.0 out of 10, saying that while Honey Don’t! doesn’t quite come together as a mystery, it feels very much like a page out of the Coen Brothers’ playbook. Margaret Qualley’s confidence as Honey makes this a viable option for a fun theater experience. The critic continues:
It will be admittedly difficult for some viewers to re-adjust their Coen-related expectations again for Honey Don’t!, which is less rat-a-tat than fans of The Hudsucker Proxy or Miller’s Crossing might hope, as well as less unexpectedly tender than Dolls (though, if anything, even more explicit in its sexiness). Yet divorced, or at least amicably separated, from those expectations, the new picture makes for a fine night out, lightly subversive as it mixes character moments with absurdities.
Fred Topel of UPI agrees audiences are in for some “light, sexy fun,” though he says some aspects feel like a retread, and nothing about it surpasses anything Ethan Coen’s done with his brother. Topel says:
There are a lot of convoluted events for a plot that amounts to a drug deal gone bad. As it spirals, there are plenty of Coen-esque accidental killings with unexpected implements. It entertains, but feels like leftovers since they've already used the wood chipper in Fargo and cattle gun in No Country for Old Men. … The film resolves a little too neatly but it's not boring along the way. At under 90 minutes, Honey Don't can afford to be a trifle of B-sides from a solo Coen brother.
Lindsey Bahr of the AP gives Honey Don’t! 3 out of 4 stars and says that while it’s ultimately (and probably intentionally) insignificant, it’s still “fun and immensely watchable.” That’s thanks to Margaret Qualley, Bahr writes, as the actress meshes Philip Marlowe with Veronica Mars, adding red lipstick, high heels and silks. More from the critic:
Honey Don’t might play more like a pilot episode of a television series than a contained film, but it is a step up from Coen and Cooke’s previous effort, Drive Away Dolls, which felt constructed of comedic parts whose shelf life expired 20 years ago. This script, written by Coen and Cooke, is probably just as vintage, technically speaking, but it feels more timeless. … Honey Don’t is gory, unapologetically sexual, quippy and dark. It also clocks in at under 90 minutes — they knew just when to get out.
Todd Gilchrist of ScreenRant has a similar middling opinion to many critics, rating the film 6 out of 10, as he acknowledges Ethan Coen going solo to blaze his own trail. However, he says the body count and an overbaked plot ultimately weigh down what should be a fizzy mystery. Gilchrist continues:
Even with a stacked screenplay full of formidable female roles, this bloody, small-town mystery ultimately feels too much like a retread of territory that Coen explored to better effect in films with his brother. Does that make Honey Don’t! less a film inspired by neo-noir than the genre and sensibility coined singularly by the Coens over two and a half decades of teamwork? Perhaps. Either way, it doesn’t quite live up to what came before it.
Critics seem to appreciate what Margaret Qualley brings to the role of the P.I., but many critics are struggling to see Ethan Coen’s unique vision as a director. Overall, the movie has accumulated 49% on the Tomatometer, but if you’re looking for some dark Coen fun, Honey Don’t! is in theaters now.
