I don’t know how you overlook a new Coen brothers movie, even if it’s just one Coen (in this case, Ethan) doing the directing, but 2024’s “Drive-Away Dolls” (aka “Henry James’ Drive-Away Dykes”) somehow came and went without much of a fuss. To be fair, the darkly comedic yarn about two friends (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) who hit the road with the wrong drive-away car (which happens to have a man’s severed head in its trunk) was not showered with the kinds of raves that greet most Coen brothers films. Still, the reviews were mostly positive. A year after its theatrical release, I’m still laughing myself silly over Bill Camp’s portrayal of the badly beaten Curlie.
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While “Drive-Away Dolls” couldn’t muster up much in the way of moviegoer enthusiasm, I’ve got to think Ethan Coen’s latest film, “Honey Don’t!”, will stir up more than a little interest. As with his last film, Coen wrote this little ditty with his wife Tricia Cooke, and they are very much back in their pitch-black comedic groove. Margaret Qualley is back for more devilish fun with the duo, this time as a private investigator looking into the misdeeds of a cult religious leader (Chris Evans). Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, and Billy Eichner are also coming along for what promises to be a wild ride. How wild? Let’s take a look at the new trailer Focus Features just dropped on these here internets.
Margaret Qualley investigates the horniest crime of the century
When the Coen Brothers split off to make their own movies after “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” longtime fans were curious to see if there’d be a noticeable tonal or aesthetic difference between the two directors. Though Joel has only made one feature thus far (an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”), it’s starting to appear that Ethan might’ve been most responsible for the duo’s viciously funny mean streak.
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“Honey Don’t!” looks like it’s gleefully doubling down on the gore, venality, and unabashed horniness of “Drive-Away Dolls.” Qualley stars as Honey, a private eye hired to solve the suspicious death of a young woman who found herself in the thrall of a strip-mall preacher named Priest Dean (Evans). The trailer amply demonstrates that Dean is an arrogant, massively corrupt fraud who engages in some light S&M with his female parishioners. He seems to be in over his head trying to outwit Honey, but I feel like he’s well and truly screwed when the detective turns to a very Edwina McDunnough-ish cop played by Aubrey Plaza.
Visually, as was the case with “Drive-Away Dolls,” this looks much looser than your typical Coens flick, but the gratuitous violence that’s been one of their hallmarks since “Blood Simple” is all over this trailer. We see a body getting dragged through a parking lot and slammed into the base of a streetlight, a blood-smeared Evans, and some poor bastard getting a fork jammed through their lower jaw. This is very much my tempo.
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We’ll find out if Coen and Cooke can go two for two when “Honey Don’t” click-clacks its heels into theaters on August 22, 2025.
