Ethan Coen’s latest solo feature, the noir-tinged dark comedy Honey Don’t! lit up Cannes’ Midnight Screenings on 23 May, earning between six and 6.5 minutes of sustained applause, according to on-site tallies from Variety and Deadline-aligned outlets. The ovation marked a warmer reception than the filmmaker’s 2024 outing Drive-Away Dolls, which was not invited to the festival, and signalled that audiences remain curious about Coen’s post-brothers trajectory.
Set in a dusty California town, the 90-minute picture follows private investigator Honey O’Donahue as she probes a string of deaths linked to a secretive church. Margaret Qualley heads a cast that also includes Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans and Charlie Day, reuniting with Coen and co-writer Tricia Cooke after last year’s road-trip caper. Focus Features and Working Title produced the film, which forms the middle chapter of a planned queer “B-movie” trilogy from the husband-and-wife team.
Critical response out of Cannes split sharply. Slashfilm praised Qualley’s “cracking” lead turn and the film’s idiosyncratic hard-boiled ambience. Trade round-ups logged pans from several U.S. outlets, with World of Reel calling the effort “crashed and burned,” underscoring a wider debate over whether Coen’s singular quirks translate without brother Joel’s counterbalance. Vulture’s annual Standing-O-Meter recorded an average 6.25-minute ovation, placing the title mid-pack among this year’s premieres and illustrating the festival’s elastic applause economy.
Production wrapped in New Mexico last autumn, and Focus has staked out an 22 August U.S. theatrical launch, positioning the film for late-summer counter-programming before awards season crowds the calendar. The distributor is expected to repeat the focused specialty-house rollout used for Drive-Away Dolls, leveraging Coen’s brand and Qualley’s rising profile after Maid and Sanctuary. Whether the mixed early notices dampen commercial prospects remains to be seen, but Cannes’ after-midnight enthusiasm—and the enigmatic detective at its centre—have ensured Honey Don’t! enters the marketplace with a spotlight brighter than many out-of-competition entries.
