
Actress Margaret Qualley nearly tames the basest instincts of one half of a talented sibling filmmaking team as Ethan Coen co-writes and directs the offbeat dark comedy mystery Honey Don’t! (C+). What a difference a partner in crime makes, as Ethan trades his brotherly collaborator to instead riff with former editor, now co-writer Tricia Cooke; and from the pulp friction of a detective neo-noir and lesbian romance spawns an unexpected lovechild. The movie is often a battle between the director’s own clever conceits and some dubious daydreams, and impulse control is rarely the victor. Still, Qualley towers above it all in a commanding role as an idiosyncratic private eye investigating crimes connected to a hack minister (an outrageously funny Chris Evans) while simultaneously romancing a police officer (deadpan dreamy Aubrey Plaza). The film, set in a sun-drenched milieu, has its share of spry surprises but doesn’t add up to a cohesive whole. It’s like a mid-season TV episode story got served instead of the impressive pilot.