TL;DR
- “Honey Don’t!” is the second film in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s lesbian-themed trilogy.
- Margaret Qualley plays a femme detective in a sultry noir set in Bakersfield.
- Aubrey Plaza stars as her butch love interest, MG Falcone.
- The film blends steamy sapphic romance with quirky noir humor.
- Cooke aims to center lesbian protagonists in genres that have historically excluded them.
Femme Detective, Butch Love Interest — Noir Gets Queer
Move over, Bogart — Bakersfield’s about to get very queer. “Honey Don’t!” isn’t your grandpa’s noir — it’s dripping with femme-butch tension, sly humor, and a whole lot of sex appeal. Margaret Qualley slips into the role of Honey O’Donahue, a sharp-eyed private detective who uses her floral dresses and killer charm to disarm shady reverends, cynical cops, and anyone else foolish enough to underestimate her.
In this second chapter of Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s sapphic trilogy, Honey finds herself neck-deep in a suspicious death that leads straight to Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans, trading his Captain America shield for a smarmy megachurch grin). But the real heat? That’s between Honey and MG Falcone, played with smirking precision by Aubrey Plaza. From their very first scene, you can practically hear the sexual tension crackle. Cooke calls it a “classic femme-butch attraction,” and it shows — this is noir with a body temperature of about 110 degrees.
Breaking the Noir Boys’ Club
Cooke, a longtime film editor turned writer-director, has a clear mission: lesbians deserve the smoky streets and femme fatale drama of noir just as much as any fedora-wearing gumshoe. “I couldn’t think of any noir genre movies that were lesbian or queer-themed,” she’s admitted — so she made her own. By flipping the script — making the detective hyper-feminine and the femme fatale more butch — she’s challenging the tired gender roles baked into the genre.
Honey’s wardrobe takes cues from legends like Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn, but there’s a twist: Bakersfield chic. She’s not swanning around in Paris couture — she’s got just enough grit to blend in while still looking like she could seduce you into confessing your deepest secrets. It’s practical, it’s hot, and it’s exactly what noir has been missing.
Sex, Sunlight, and Sapphic Sparks
While the genre often wallows in shadowy streets and cigarette smoke, “Honey Don’t!” throws its drama into the sun-drenched landscapes of Southern California — well, technically Albuquerque, but you wouldn’t know it. The result is a noir that feels both familiar and fresh, marrying bleak backdrops with scenes that practically steam up the camera lens.
And yes, Cooke promised “a lot of sex in the movie,” and she delivers. Evans’ reverend gets some comedic romps, but the Honey-MG scenes? Straight-up scorching. Their first encounter is inspired by “Basic Instinct” — minus the ice pick, plus undeniable queer chemistry.
Queer women have too often been erased, sidelined, or tragically punished in classic noir. “Honey Don’t!” throws that outdated trope into the trunk and drives off. Here, the lesbian characters are front and center — powerful, flawed, sexual, and alive. It’s a celebration of queer desire without apology, a big-screen moment where lesbians aren’t a subplot or a cautionary tale but the driving force of the story.
As the trilogy heads toward its final installment, “Go Beavers,” Cooke and Coen are carving out a corner of cinema where sapphic stories can be sexy, stylish, and — most importantly — fun. And if “Honey Don’t!” is any indication, the queer film canon just got a whole lot hotter.