The sophomore release of director Olivia Wilde following critical praise from her first movie (Booksmart), DWD centers around the perfect all-American town of Victory, against a 1950’s backdrop and style. Alice and Jack, played respectively by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, are one of many couples that participate in the confidential Victory project that sends the men off all day to an undisclosed location to work while the women play housewives. There is a hush-hush attitude regarding these occupations, encouraging obedience. Alice starts to question her existence and the foundation of this town after some suspicious activity and the injury of her close friend, the project collapsing around her. 

Overall, the film received many split reviews, with critics finding the movie messy and problematic. The actual messaging and plot of the movie, however, is overshadowed by the drama behind the scenes. From the creation of the film until the first screenings, there was discussion of real-life chaos. 

Before Harry Styles received the lead male role, Shia LaBeouf was chosen yet fired for conflicts with other cast members. Wilde described how he didn’t match what they were looking for in the movie, and wanted to create a safe environment above all else, yet was refuted when LaBeouf released a video sent to him by Wilde where she was pushing for him to come back. It was suggested that Florence Pugh had a majority of the issues with him, as she suggested a “wake-up call for Miss Flo”. There were rifts forming between cast members early on, with Wilde and Pugh allegedly arguing since the beginning. As reports of a relationship between Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde started to pop up, some also claimed that they felt uncomfortable with the PDA and display from the pair on the set of the movie. At the Venice Film Festival, there was even further speculation regarding the backstage drama of the movie when Styles was accused of spitting on Chris Pine, later regarded as nonsense.

With all of the alleged drama off-camera, the hype for this movie was definitely built up. However, personally after seeing the movie in theaters I think that some of the momentum for the movie was tarnished by the previous news coverage and the fact that the POC actors believed that their parts were severely cut down despite being major characters in the movie. For the many Harry Styles fans and those who are simply intrigued because of the drama attached to the film, I think this movie is definitely unique in its concept and plot twist, but it could have been executed in a way that made more sense and paid more respect to the hard-working actors who made it happen. Overall, a very interesting movie but not worth the sheer amount of attention being paid to it; I strongly recommend Wilde’s first movie, Booksmart.