Don't Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde's Stepford Wives meets the Matrix is visually attractive, stunningly nostalgic and playfully acted yet an olive short of a decent Martini. Intriguing as it begins like a promising yet underfunded cocktail party, it fizzles like flat champagne.
Two thirds of this film is a slow decent towards the big reveal. The set up is grand. A Utopian suburban society circa 1958, where the men drive Ford T-Birds, Classic Corvette's and Cadillacs to their perfect jobs out at HQ. Palm Springs is the lead character with its post WWII planned community of Art Deco ranch style homes taking center stage.
The actors look and play the part in this 1950s patriarchal society, where the men work and the wives make the home perfect for their husbands.
Not a care in the world as the Victory Corporation provides all to raise a perfect family, in a perfect town.
That is until one little Mrs. Stepford Wife goes all haywire and starts to speak out.
And what are the men doing inside that mountain all day? Fracking? Drilling? Something subatomic?
Well maybe they will answer that in the sequel, because it was of no consequence to Ms. Wilde. As long as the point of dismantling the patriarchy was brought home as heavy handed as possible for act three, Olivia was fine.
The society begins to break down when little Mrs. Stepford goes all haywire and starts to speak out. Victory tries to sweep her psychosis under the rug. Yet once the idea of her rights is introduced to Alice, she cannot unsee the horrors.
It is only a matter of time before the revolution is televised ( ... in simple black and white.) Looking back to the good old days may be nostalgic and fun, yet being forced into reliving it, is not what it was and a bright future is not what it used to be.
Two thirds of this film is a slow decent towards the big reveal. The set up is grand. A Utopian suburban society circa 1958, where the men drive Ford T-Birds, Classic Corvette's and Cadillacs to their perfect jobs out at HQ. Palm Springs is the lead character with its post WWII planned community of Art Deco ranch style homes taking center stage.
The actors look and play the part in this 1950s patriarchal society, where the men work and the wives make the home perfect for their husbands.
Not a care in the world as the Victory Corporation provides all to raise a perfect family, in a perfect town.
That is until one little Mrs. Stepford Wife goes all haywire and starts to speak out.
And what are the men doing inside that mountain all day? Fracking? Drilling? Something subatomic?
Well maybe they will answer that in the sequel, because it was of no consequence to Ms. Wilde. As long as the point of dismantling the patriarchy was brought home as heavy handed as possible for act three, Olivia was fine.
The society begins to break down when little Mrs. Stepford goes all haywire and starts to speak out. Victory tries to sweep her psychosis under the rug. Yet once the idea of her rights is introduced to Alice, she cannot unsee the horrors.
It is only a matter of time before the revolution is televised ( ... in simple black and white.) Looking back to the good old days may be nostalgic and fun, yet being forced into reliving it, is not what it was and a bright future is not what it used to be.
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