'Don't Worry Darling' review: An erotic thriller with limp execution

Monday

Sept 26 2022

A meme is a powerful thing. Memes drive the economy and swing elections. They also have the power to change our perception of the shows and movies we love (or hate).

Memes made the latest Minions movie a hit and tricked Sony into re-releasing Morbius so it could flop twice in theaters. So what can memes do for Don’t Worry Darling?

The retro thriller from director Olivia Wilde served as meme fodder for days thanks to Chris Pine’s thousand-yard-stare, Harry Styles’ inane interviews, and a (maybe) fabricated “spit-gate” controversy between the two actors. The question is: will any of this translate into ticket sales?

Don’t Worry Darling is in theaters this weekend and the reviews are… not great. Our own critic calls it “limp,” “overcooked,” and “toothless” — and that’s just in the first two paragraphs of his review.

Read the full thing, and more, in today’s issue of Inverse daily.

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THE INVERSE REVIEW

DON’T WORRY DARLING IS AN EROTIC THRILLER WITH LIMP EXECUTION

Olivia WIlde has plenty to worry about.

The buzz-worthy press tour for Wilde’s sophomore film Don’t Worry Darling was packed with enough drama for an entire second movie. From conspiracies that Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine involving a video dissected like the Zapruder film, to alleged tensions between Wilde and Florence Pugh, Don’t Worry Darling had either the worst press tour or the best word-of-mouth marketing.

That saga eclipses the movie itself, which begins as a promising erotic thriller but woefully devolves into an overcooked mystery-horror with a toothless take on gender politics, masculinity, and heteronormativity. Despite good intentions by Wilde — aided by a powerhouse Pugh, catalog-ready home sets, and stray moments of pure entertainment — Don’t Worry Darling can’t escape the creative and philosophical prisons of its own making

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5 tips for experiencing a new city with adventure and sustainability in mind

Traveling affords you the privilege of sampling what it’s like to live in a variety of places. Hitting a tourist landmark or two is often nonnegotiable, but mixing and mingling with the locals is the best way to get a real sense of a city’s identity — and not to mention, to fall in love with a new place.

Even for the out-of-towner, there are a few no-fail tricks for soaking up the local experience in a new city, whether you’re enjoying a long weekend in a metropolis like New York or wanting to mix business and adventure on a trip to Washington, D.C.

HORIZONS

Trash can-sized robots could revolutionize how you travel — but there's a catch

Being followed around is at best annoying (by a nagging sibling) and at worst terrifying (by a suspicious stranger). But imagine using the art of lurking to your advantage. That’s the plan for Piaggio, the Italian company behind the Vespa.Their new robots, gitamini and gitaplus, and the accompanying app can hang on to your every move, carry your crap, stream your music, and track your miles.

In a world plagued by constant screen time, the gita robots promise to hold on to your things and provide you the rare freedom to immerse yourself in the world — and finally get those 10,000 daily steps in.

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AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Sauron cultists? Rings of Power may have just solved the show's biggest mystery

Things are finally starting to ramp up on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. From Númenor agreeing to enter the conflict currently unfolding in Middle-earth to Adar’s (Joseph Mawle) invasion of the Southlands finally commencing, The Rings of Power is juggling more than its fair share of compelling plot threads right now. If early rumors are to be believed, fans may not have to wait much longer to see many of The Rings of Power’s characters finally cross paths on-screen.

The Rings of Power’s large number of storylines did not, however, stop the series from including a scene in its most recent episode that is both deeply confounding and ominous.

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MILKY WAY'S HEART

Look! Astronomers find a hot ball of plasma circling the Milky Way’s massive black hole

The supermassive black hole lurking at the center of the Milky Way is privy to powerful flare-ups, and new evidence shows it's circled by a strange blob that flies through space at 30 percent the speed of light.

Thanks to the ground-breaking Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), astronomers are able to peer deeper into the 4-million-solar-mass black hole at the core of our galaxy called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). The latest look at this irresistible science target was published Thursday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, and it has revealed a fast-flying hotspot plus new information about the mysterious flares that blast off around the black hole. The phenomena help scientists learn more about the behind-the-scenes of the black hole’s chaos, and are fascinating in their own right, too.

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GOOD GAME

Dunkey's Bigmode: Everything we know about the YouTuber's new indie game label

Dunkey said no more “weak games,” only good ones from now on. Enter Bigmode, the indie publishing company he and his wife Leah are founding. A popular YouTuber known for his comedic gaming videos and insightful video essays, videogamedunkey (a.k.a., Dunkey or Jason) is also renowned for hating turn-based RPGs and anime games like Xenoblade Chronicles 3. But now he’s taking his expertise into game publishing. The reactions are predictably all over the place.

Dunkey used to exclusively make videos about League of Legends, which he has been open about hating since he left it behind to go independent. His fanbase largely enjoys his balance of analysis and comedy, cementing his reputation as a trustworthy gaming critic.

He’s spent over a decade highlighting games and topics he thinks are worth talking about. However, skeptics wonder if that’s enough to succeed as a game publisher. So what do we even know about Bigmode?

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Meanwhile...

Researchers uncover how your brain knows something is food

This new Webb Telescope picture of the beloved Orion Nebula is glorious

'Daredevil: Born Again' won't be the Netflix follow-up fans wanted

'She-Hulk' Episode 5 finally solves its biggest Marvel mystery

Today in history: The American sitcom The Brady Bunch premiered on ABC September 26, 1969.

About this newsletter: Do you think it can be improved? Have a story idea? Send those thoughts and more to newsletter@inverse.com.

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☣️ Can science prevent a pandemic?

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