Melissa McCarthy was Hollywood’s “It” funny lady when studios still cared about big-screen comedies.
That clout came with a decided perk. It allowed McCarthy to team with her husband, director Ben Falcone, on a series of film romps. Projects like “Life of the Party,” “SuperIntelligence” and “Thunder Force” followed.
Yikes. Be careful what you wish for.
Long-term relationships are tricky in Tinsel Town. It must be tantalizing to work with a romantic partner, rather than spend weeks at a time away from home on a movie set. And kudos to McCarthy and Falcone for surviving in an industry that chews up couples and spits them out.
It doesn’t mean they click on a movie set, at least creatively speaking. The evidence suggests otherwise. Heck, it screams otherwise.
And we’re seeing a new example of that in real time.
Consider director Ethan Coen and his off-screen partner Tricia Cooke. Coen is part of one of Hollywood’s most talented duos – Joel and Ethan Coen, the Oscar-winning brothers behind “Fargo,” “Raising Arizona” and “The Big Lebowski.”
The duo could do no wrong for decades, but they took some time off in recent years to work on solo films. That freed Ethan Coen up to join Cooke on two joint projects.
Cooke, who served as an editor for years, including work on Coen films like “The Big Lebowski” and “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” co-wrote the screenplay for 2024’s “Drive-Away Dolls.”
That film made this critic’s “Worst of the Year” list. It snagged a mildly positive 64 percent “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes but bombed in theaters – just $5 million in US markets.
Now, Coen and Cooke are back together for “Honey Don’t!” Coen is behind the camera again, directing a screenplay he co-wrote with Cooke.
It’s the second in a proposed lesbian film trilogy. The film hits select theaters Aug. 22 but wasn’t screened for Denver-area critics. The proverbial buzz for the title appears nonexistent.
Plus, select critics have weighed in on the film, and it isn’t pretty.
“Honey Don’t!” stars Margaret Qualley as a private investigator who gets involved with her niece’s disappearance and a shady man of the cloth (Chris Evans). Aubrey Plaza and Charlie Day co-star in the dark comedy, one arriving between the summer blockbusters and Oscar season.
That’s not a good sign. Nor is the first round of reviews.
The film currently sports a 46 percent “rotten” rating, with some critics going for the jugular:
Cooke and Coen submit another dud in “Honey Don’t,” which supplies unpleasantness, even more unbearable performances, and a central mystery that carries no cinematic weight. – Brian Orndorf
…“Honey Don’t!” feels like a mishmash of disparate parts that Coen and Cooke didn’t know how to fit together. The end result is an exhausting disappointment, and a waste of the assembled talent. – IndieWire
Even the positive notices are restrained in their praise. That’s not the typical reception for an Ethan Coen project.
Let’s assume the couples in question loved working together. And, if those experiences kept the marital bonds alive, all the better.
Just know audiences aren’t feeling as charitable about the finished product.