Honey Don't

As is yearly tradition, it’s time to once again applaud that most fun genre of movies: the 90 minute crime/comedy/action thriller.

The Pulp Fiction influenced pulp fiction which won’t win awards or necessarily attract universal acclaim but will give you a little jolt of adrenaline and is an easy cinema date night/at home movie night guarantee.

Presenting Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke's quasi-sequel/follow up to last year's Drive Away Dolls: Honey Don’t.

Not linked in any way story-wise but feeling very much of a piece with its predecessor, this is another showcase for Ethan away from his Coen brother and, also, for Margaret Qualley in another brilliant leading performance.

This time, Qualley is the titular Honey, a private detective in a rundown, backwater little Californian town.

A girl with a scheduled appointment with Honey winds up dead, a cult-like church could be involved, a French cartel enforcer is riding around town on a moped and Honey’s niece goes missing.

However, the plot isn’t really the point and, in fact, doesn’t really resolve itself in the way you might expect.

This is meant to resemble some sort of dog-eared, lightweight paperback novel inhaled over a flight or train journey.

It’s soaked in noir tropes and luxuriates in style, setting, music and detail.

It’s tricky to criticise something for what it isn’t but, with the Coen name attached and its very blatant Tarantino-homaging, it largely just goes to show quite how brilliant those respective oeuvres are and is clearly lightweight in comparison.

However, for an exercise in tone and fun, it’s a delight.

It’s obviously silly, the violence is often amusing, some of the jokes will raise an outward chuckle and the smut is perfectly delivered by the game cast.

Qualley and love interest Aubrey Plaza are brilliant and matched by Chris Evans in a gonzo, scenery-chewing role as the suspicious churches’ priest.

Yes, this could have gone further and, perhaps, there's a more 'fully formed' movie somewhere in here. As such, some audiences will be left a little cold and unsure.

However, similar to Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Grindhouse’ double-feature Death Proof and Planet Terror, as an exercise in subversion and drive-in/late night TV movie fun, this will make a great double feature with Drive Away Dolls and I, for one, will gladly welcome a trilogy capper.

Bright, breezy and a blast.

⭐️⭐️⭐️