Directed by Ethan Coen, ‘Honey Don’t’ is a somewhat uneven crime thriller that blends modern noir with retro chic design, evoking the look of the 1950s. Sleazy characters drift in and out of a story that may, or may not, revolve around a murder. Margaret Qualley plays a private investigator who suspects that a fatal car crash hides something more sinister. It’s the kind of role you could easily imagine Liv Tyler playing a few decades ago: a tough, swaggering figure who commands attention when she enters a bar or office. But unlike the classic femme fatale, when men proposition her she replies matter-of-factly that she’s only interested in women, giving the character a refreshing twist.

Chris Evans, fresh from ‘Materialists’, is entertaining as a smarmy, corrupt church pastor, though his performance, like much of the cast, feels stranded in a film that never fully coheres. The story is fragmented, almost comic-book in tone. While bodies pile up, nothing has much impact, and the design takes centre stage over substance. The stylized costumes and sets are seductive, but they overshadow a narrative that meanders and leaves threads dangling.

There are faint echoes of ‘Chinatown’ in the setup, with a detective fielding clients who want their partners tailed, only to be offered pragmatic advice instead. But unlike ‘Chinatown’, this is not a film interested in peeling back corruption or unravelling a mystery. It presents corruption as backdrop, not subject, leaving the audience with surface sheen rather than investigative depth.

The distance between characters makes the film feel oddly hollow. One-liners abound, but they compensate for a threadbare plot rather than build meaningful connections. The most striking element is Qualley herself: strong, commanding, and unafraid to upend noir traditions. Yet in some respects, the film merely replaces the archetypal alpha male detective with an alpha female, raising the question of whether that constitutes progress or simply a gender swap.

‘Honey Don’t’ is stylish and occasionally sharp, but it’s more a collection of poses than a fully realised noir. The retro design may linger in the memory, but the story doesn’t.