Honey Don't (2025) ****

It still feels strange to me to see the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, pursuing separate projects. For most of my movie-watching life, they were a legendary team: writing, directing, and producing films like "Raising Arizona," "Miller's Crossing," and “The Big Lebowski” together. The reality is that since 2021, they have been doing their own separate things. What Ethan Coen has been up to is working with his wife, Tricia Cooke, on a trio of lesbian-themed films. You can't really call it a trilogy, as the characters and stories are not linked. The first film in the trio was 2024's “Drive-Away Dolls,” which I found reasonably entertaining, but not nearly as good as the Coen brothers' best work. Now, with their second film, Coen and Cooke seem to be finding their footing.

Margaret Qualley starred in “Drive-Away Dolls,” and she returns for “Honey Don't” as a completely different character. She plays Honey O'Donahue, a private eye with a weakness for booze and the ladies. When a prospective client dies in a car crash, Honey wonders what are the odds that someone would call her office in trouble, then die the next day in an “accident.” She starts poking around, and the trail leads to a shady, cult-like church. The pastor, Reverend Drew (Chris Evans) regularly has “congress” with his female parishioners, and he runs a drug dealing operation out of the church. Meanwhile, Honey may have found her soul-mate in a lady cop (Aubrey Plaza).

“Honey Don't” does not break any new ground, nor is it trying to. Honey is a textbook noir detective from the school of Chandler and Hammett, who just happens to be female and gay. All the traditional plot elements are in place: the murdered client, dark secrets, the tension between the private detective and the established police force. Coen and Cooke do here what many noir directors have done before them, and they do it well. The dialogue is snappy, the twists are surprising, and the lesbian angle adds just enough spice to make it all feel fresh. (And by spice, I mean graphic, lesbian sex.)

4 stars out of 5

Roofman (2025) **1/2

 

In the late 1990's, Jeffrey Manchester robbed about 50 McDonald's restaurants. His modus operandi was to hack through the roof of the store in the middle of the night, then wait inside to rob the store at gunpoint when the employees showed up the next morning. His unique mode of entry made him famous as “Roofman”. Of course, he eventually got caught, but he managed to escape from prison to the town of Charlotte, NC, where he hid out in a Toy's R Us store. He made himself a hidden nest where he slept during the day, coming out at night for food and exercise. He wound up living there secretly for 6 months, dating a local woman and joining her church.

It's no surprise someone would make a movie out of this story. What does surprise me is that writer/director Derek Cianfrance made such a hackneyed, predictable film out of this wild tale, and assembled an all-star cast to do it. Channing Tatum plays Manchester, Kirsten Dunst plays the love interest, and they get support from LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dinklage, and Juno Temple. While the cast is talented and game, the script is no great accomplishment. The only surprising story elements are the ones that come from Manchester's real-life antics. The narrative glue that Cianfrance inserts to turn the story into a 2 hour movie is treacly and predictable. You can see every plot point coming a mile away.

“Roofman” does offer something we don't see a lot in film, namely people attending church regularly. It's also a very family-friendly movie, despite its R rating (presumably because we witness a couple of armed robberies and Channing Tatum's naked butt.) For these reasons, I suspect the film will find an audience, and good for 'em! Not everybody wants to watch art movies about gay cowboys eating pudding (If you know, you know.)

2.5 stars out of 5

The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) ***

 

If you thought “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was too conventional and predictable, this is the movie for you! Writer/Director Brian De Palma is known for pushing boundaries in movies like “Carrie” and “Scarface”, but this black-comedy rock opera is outre even for him. The film borrows themes from “Faust”, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and of course The Phantom of the Opera.

William Finley plays Winslow Leach, a singer-songwriter whose music is stolen by an unscrupulous producer named Swan (Paul Williams, who wrote the music for the film). When Winslow tries to assert his rights, his face gets horribly disfigured, so he dons a mask and takes to haunting the music hall owned by Swan. Lurking in the shadows, Winslow promotes a singer with whom he is obsessed (Jessica Harper), and he learns Swan's secret to youth.

There's no way I could describe just how strange this musical film is; you just have to see it for yourself. This bizarre flick is not good in any traditional sense, but it is eye-and-ear candy for lovers of cult classic films. Paul Williams really lets himself go wild with the music, and Jessica Harper is as charming here as she would later be in 1977's “Suspiria.” Whether you are a Brian De Palma completist or just love a cult classic, this is one to check out when you are in the mood for something weird.

3 stars out of 5