Don't Worry Darling reviews are a mixed bag – but critics agree Florence Pugh is a standout

Don't Worry Darling reviews are in – and they're not all that positive. Florence Pugh is being highly praised, and critics agree that the film's visuals are top-notch, but there's criticism aimed at the plot, particularly a big twist, and opinions on Harry Styles' performance vary. 

The film is set in a seemingly idyllic, 1950s-style community called Victory and focuses on Pugh's Alice, who is married to Styles' Jack. While the duo have an apparently perfect relationship, Victory hides a dark secret, which Alice begins to uncover. Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Olivia Wilde round out the cast (Wilde also directs). The film has been plagued by scandal for some time, with Wilde recently dismissing "all the endless tabloid nonsense and gossip" about her and Pugh. 

We've rounded up a selection of reviews below to give you an idea of what the critics are saying about the movie – and, have no fear, there are no spoilers here. 

Total Film – 3/5 – Jane Crowther 

"Pugh – in every scene – essays another accomplished, full-bodied performance, bringing viewers along with her on a journey from flirtatious to fearful. She's required to disintegrate then galvanize – a trick that does at times evoke the emotional trajectory she nailed in Midsommar. Styles is suitably charming if blank as Jack, his real-life heartthrob status-enhancing his character's dreamboat qualities rather than detracting from them.

"Pine seems to have the most fun, though, as a silver-tongued guru whose compliments and advice are delivered as smiling threats. A scene where he and Pugh face off over a dining table crackles with electricity. Later, a party in which he forces Styles to dance like a marionette genuinely disquiets."

IndieWire – C- – Kate Erbland  

"Don't Worry Darling is so clearly, so obviously not set in an idyllic '50s community that to say the film packs a twist is not at twist at all. It's disingenuous, easy, cheeky –much like the film itself, which starts off strong before crumbling into baffling storytelling choices made worse by the revolting intentions behind them. More frustrating is that the film also offers stunning craft work, a wonderfully immersive quality, and one of star Florence Pugh's best performances yet. Too bad about the rest of it. "

The Hollywood Reporter – David Rooney  

"The high-concept, low-satisfaction psychological thriller marks an ambitious upgrade in scope for Wilde from the character-driven coming-of-age comedy of Booksmart, and she handles the physical aspects of the project with assurance. It's just a shame all the effort has gone into a script without much of that 2019 debut's disarming freshness." 

iNews – 2/5 – Matthew Turner 

"Ultimately, the film raises far more questions than it answers, and is deeply unsatisfying as a result. That disappointment is further compounded because there's so much potential in the issues it raises, as if the filmmakers started out with the intention of saying something interesting and important about control, gender roles, gaslighting, toxic relationships and a host of other topics, but then bottled it, hoping that no-one would notice."  

Variety – Owen Gleiberman

"Of course, when those other movies came out (even The Stepford Wives, which was never more than an amusing piece of claptrap), the world was a little less used to this kind of conspiratorial socio thriller. The early scenes of Don't Worry Darling are the film's best, but even there it's hard not to notice the top-heaviness with which the movie telegraphs its own darkness. (It's not like we watch Chris Pine's speech and think, "What a good dude!") To really work, the film needed to reel us in slowly, to be insidious and surprising in the way that Get Out was. Instead, it's ominous in an obvious way." 

The Guardian – 2/5 – Peter Bradshaw  

"First things first: it was unfair of everyone on Twitter to mock Harry Styles – on the basis of a single out-of-context online clip – for his wonky and unconvincing transatlantic accent in this film. There turns out to be a reason for it. Unfortunately, that reason is part of a larger wonkiness and unconvincingness in this handsomely designed but hammily acted, laborious and derivative mystery chiller. Directed by Olivia Wilde, it superciliously pinches ideas from other films without quite understanding how and why they worked in the first place. It spoils its own ending simply by unveiling it, and in so doing shows that serious script work needed to be done on filling in the plot-holes and problems in a fantastically silly twist-reveal."

The Independent – 3/5 – Geoffrey Macnab 

"Jack is a one-dimensional figure, and the One Direction star fails to give him any hidden depth. Pugh is easily the film's most vivid and compelling personality. She plays Alice in such fiery fashion that most other characters seem robotic by comparison." 

Deadline – Pete Hammond 

"Pugh, in a polar opposite role to the understated woman she plays in another new film The Wonder that also had its world premiere this weekend (at Telluride), continues to show her range even when the character ventures into some pretty ludicrous situations, setting out into the forbidden secret desert location alone being one of them. Styles, as he did in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and in the upcoming Toronto Film Festival premiere of My Policeman, shows he is the real deal as an actor and has great promise. Pine makes a slick, almost cult-like figure a chilling but actually plausible villain." 

Check out our roundup of 2022's upcoming major movie release dates for everything else the year has in store for us.