Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!
Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town

Eden
Directed by Ron Howard (R)
★★
"In a film littered with monstrous behavior, what is perhaps most shocking about Eden is the director behind it," said Tim Grierson in Screen Daily. In most Ron Howard movies, "the best of humanity usually shines brightest." Here, he aims instead to reveal the worst, taking us to a Galápagos island in the 1930s to watch as unwelcome guests poison the wilderness utopia that a pompous real-life German doctor and his wife had begun to build. As rivalries emerge, "Howard embraces the story's demented bent," offering the viewer kinky sex and "a level of brutality unique to his oeuvre." Still, "he can't quite connect with the evil that permeates his film." Jude Law, playing the doctor, does some "enjoyable scenery chewing," and Vanessa Kirby "goes toe to toe with him," said Maureen Lee Lenker in Entertainment Weekly.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But the story leans heavily on an "over-the-top" Ana de Armas as a grifter traveling with two male lovers and on Sydney Sweeney, who's clearly "not suited for a period piece." Playing a meek young mother, the rising star "has the energy of a modern woman," and "it's impossible to believe this is a human being who existed prior to the internet." At least the "flamboyant sexiness" of de Armas' character gives the movie a needed spark, said Nick Schager in The Daily Beast. "Part biblical cautionary tale, part Lord of the Flies nightmare," Eden winds up being "never dull" but also "only intermittently surprising."
Honey Don't!
Directed by Ethan Coen (R)
★★
A retro sheen hangs over Honey Don't!, director Ethan Coen's second attempt to put a lesbian spin on a tossed-off genre workout, said Esther Zuckerman in IndieWire. Private eye Honey O'Donahue, played by Margaret Qualley, prowls the dusty streets of Bakersfield, Calif., in a vintage Chevy SS, sporting red pumps and seamed stockings when she steps onto murder scenes. "Not much about this film is fantastic," but Qualley's wardrobe is.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Co-written by Coen and his spouse, Tricia Cooke, Honey follows last year's road-trip flick Drive-Away Dolls, building toward a trilogy of intentionally madcap riffs on the lesbian experience, said Owen Gleiberman in Variety. "A deliberate throwaway," Honey Don't! is "just trying to show you a flaky good time." And watching Qualley is time well spent, as she imbues Honey with "unapologetic erotic power" and "the steady gaze of a femme fatale."
To me, Qualley is "not very convincing as a hard-boiled type," said Alison Willmore in NYMag.com. Nor is Chris Evans persuasive as a preacher who sleeps with his female congregants or Aubrey Plaza as the butch local cop Honey hooks up with. Everybody seems to be merely playacting, setting up the scenes of lesbian intimacy that Coen and Cooke truly care about staging. In the end, the movie's shagginess "feels like a challenge, daring viewers to decide if it's just goofy, just horny, or just diverting enough to make up for how it runs out of gas long before the credits roll."
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Sudoku hard: October 5, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
Hooray for Brollywood: the UK’s film industry is booming – for now
In The Spotlight US production giants are flocking to film in British studios but Trump tariffs could threaten end of golden era
-
Susie Dent picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The lexicographer and etymologist shares works by Jane Goodall, Noel Streatfeild and Madeleine Pelling
-
6 incredible homes under $1 million
Feature Featuring a home in the National Historic Landmark District of Virginia and a renovated mid-century modern house in Washington
-
The Harder They Come: ‘triumphant’ adaptation of cinema classic
The Week Recommends ‘Uniformly excellent’ cast follow an aspiring musician facing the ‘corruption’ of Kingston, Jamaica
-
House of Guinness: ‘rip-roaring’ Dublin brewing dynasty period drama
The Week Recommends The Irish series mixes the family tangles of ‘Downton’ and ‘Succession’ for a ‘dark’ and ‘quaffable’ watch
-
Dead of Winter: a ‘kick-ass’ hostage thriller
The Week Recommends Emma Thompson plays against type in suspenseful Minnesota-set hair-raiser ‘ringing with gunshots’
-
A Booker shortlist for grown-ups?
Talking Point Dominated by middle-aged authors, this year’s list is a return to ‘good old-fashioned literary fiction’