Mystery thriller Don't Worry Darling has now had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, and the reviews are in. Directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, and Chris Pine, there has already been much controversy surrounding the behind-the-scenes goings-on, but was it all worth it? Well, according to critics, probably not, no.

Beginning with Geoffrey Macnab of the Independent, we should all be very worried as Don’t Worry Darling is largely a “messy, convoluted affair.” Though he does praise Pugh’s central performance, calling her “easily the film’s most vivid and compelling personality.”

"Do worry darling ... This isn't the disaster that some predicted – but it is a messy, convoluted affair with some very contrived plotting. Styles gives a surprisingly dull and low-wattage performance as Jack. To be fair, he is playing a very dull character, a kind of Stepford husband ... Beneath its polished, very stylish outer sheen, though, it's as hollow as the lives of its pampered but empty-headed protagonists. You can understand easily enough why Alice is so desperate to get out of the community – and perhaps why certain cast members have been so wary about endorsing the movie itself."

The criticism continues courtesy of Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw, who mauls Don’t Worry Darling for stealing ideas from better movies and then doing them worse.

"Directed by Olivia Wilde, it superciliously pinches ideas from other films without quite understanding how and why they worked in the first place. It spoils its own ending simply by unveiling it, and in so doing shows that serious script work needed to be done on filling in the plot-holes and problems in a fantastically silly twist-reveal."

Echoing these sentiments is Leah Greenblatt from EW, who found that Don't Worry Darling is simply far too familiar to impress.

“That familiarity drains much of the tension and mystery from Darling, a movie high on snazzy midcentury style but considerably less bothered by the mechanics of cohesive storytelling. ... But the movie, whatever its pile of ideas about love, gender constructs, and modern living, never really transcends Stepford mood-board pastiche. It's all nefarious and gorgeous, Darling, and strictly nonsense in the end."

Don't Worry Darling Will Hit Theaters Later This Month

Steve Pond from TheWrap again heaped praise on Florence Pugh, but ultimately found Don’t Worry Darling to be a deeply frustrating cinematic experience.

“Wilde's new film gives you plenty to admire, from its look to yet another strong performance from the reliably terrific Florence Pugh, and just as much that is frustrating.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney meanwhile found “sizeable pluses” within Don’t Worry Darling, “chief among them a meaty lead role for the dependably compelling Florence Pugh.”

“The high-concept, low-satisfaction psychological thriller marks an ambitious upgrade in scope for Wilde from the character-driven coming-of-age comedy of Booksmart, and she handles the physical aspects of the project with assurance. It's just a shame all the effort has gone into a script without much of that 2019 debut's disarming freshness."

Directed by Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darling follows a couple, Alice and Jack, living in the idealized community named Victory. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why.

Don't Worry Darling is scheduled to be released on September 23, 2022, by Warner Bros. Pictures.