Margaret Qualley’s Chandler-esque private eye Honey O’Donahue is actually not that good at her job. That’s one of the many running jokes in Ethan Coen’s comic sun-blasted noirish caper Honey Don’t!, in which the titular gumshoe even tries to talk a potential client (Billy Eichner, a hoot) out of hiring her. Having Honey expose his cheating partner would just be wasting his money, she insists. Turns out, she’s right.
It’s not that Honey is incapable. She’s got all the right instincts, and can typically sniff out the scoundrels in her midst. Her brow almost always stays furrowed, especially when she’s in a room with men, as if she’s got a resting interrogator face. But she’s rarely committed to the assignment, or just too easily distracted by curious subplots and hot lesbians to get the job done.
