‘Don’t Worry Darling’: The first reviews of Harry Styles’ performance are in

Florence Pugh was lauded for the film, while some critics took umbrage with Styles' acting chops.

The reviews are in for Don’t Worry Darling and we’d probably advise Harry Styles to steer well clear of them. The critical reception for the Olivia Wilde-directed flick has ranged from average to poor despite the massive attention it’s been getting online.

However, Florence Pugh has been lauded for her portrayal of Alice, a “1950s housewife living with her husband [Styles] in a utopian experimental community”. While Pugh’s performance has seen heavy praise, responses to Styles’ performance as Jack have been less positive, to say the least. 

Writing for The Daily Beast, Marlin Stone said: “Styles struggles to match [Pugh’s] go-for-broke intensity. The musician is like a deer in headlights throughout much of the proceedings, and a scene of him crying in the car following a particularly fiery row with Pugh is littered with more crocodile tears than Charlie Sheen being hauled out of his office by the cops at the end of Wall Street.”

Similarly, Steph Green writes for the BBC that Styles “doesn’t quite feel up to the material here, with leaden line delivery and a lack of light and shade making his two-hander scenes opposite Pugh fall flat”.

Kevin Maher for The Times labels the singer, “a huge problem for the film.” Maher goes on to say “He’s wooden as. Especially opposite Pugh, who’s an innately gifted and charismatic screen giant. One could imagine that she was exacting some level of revenge on Wilde, because she wipes the floor with Styles in their every encounter. Each time it’s like watching Brando do the ‘contender’ scene opposite former One Directioner Niall Horan.”

Don’t Worry Darling has been surrounded by controversy ever since it was announced. From the get-go, Shia LaBeouf, who originally played Jack, departed the production and since then rumours of a bust-up between Wilde and Pugh have been spreading like wildfire. Why not check out our full rundown of all the drama here?

Don’t Worry Darling is out in cinemas on September 23rd.

Writer
Chris Saunders
Banner Image Credit
Warner Bros. / Don't Worry Darling