Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Honey Don’t,” a new crime drama from director Ethan Coen, Margaret Qualley is a sultry, small town private investigator whose probe into a woman’s death leads to a religious cult. “You’re fascinating,” Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans) tells her. “And you haven’t even seen the riddle tattooed on my ass,” Honey replies.

CAST: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, and Chris Evans. Directed by Ethan Coen.

REVIEW: “Honey Don’t,” part two of director Ethan Coen and co-writer Tricia Cooke’s “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” following 2024s “Drive-Away Dolls,” is a hard-boiled private investigator story; a neo-noir set in sunny California.

Sleek yet aimless, “Honey Don’t” displays an obvious love for its pulpy style but doesn’t show any affection for its story. Co-writers Coen and Cooke craft a series of red herring situations rather than a compelling narrative.

The movie begins with a car crash that takes the life of a woman. The only problem she had, says one of her friends, is “taking curves too fast.” As queer private detective Honey O’Donahue (Margaret Qualley) investigates the case, she also becomes involved with the local cop shop’s no-nonsense Property Room Officer M.G. (Aubrey Plaza), goes head-to-head with a cult leader played by Chris Evans and searches for her missing niece Corinne (Talia Ryder).

Not that any of that adds up to much. The plot U-turns mostly serve a showcase for Qualley’s old-school movie star glamour and way with snappy dialogue. As the title character she’s an anachronism, an echo of the PIs of the past. She uses a Rolodex and doesn’t have a cell phone. “I carry around a bag of quarters for the pay phone,” she explains. Qualley has a knack for the character’s hard-boiled cadence, delivering Honey’s terse comebacks with deadpan flair.

As over-sexed cult leader Reverend Drew Devlin, Chris Evans hands in the most flamboyantly unwholesome role of his career. Whether he’s sleeping with his parishioners or shooting them or delivering a sermon based on a macaroni allegory, there isn’t a hint of Captain America anywhere to be seen.

Qualley and Evans do all the heavy lifting here. The filmmaking is playful, but the wandering story and disregard for any character not played by Qualley makes the title “Honey Don’t” seem less like a name and more like a warning.