Ethan Coen Goes Back to a Pulpy Well With ‘Honey Don’t!’

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that “Honey Don’t!” was born out of Ethan Coen trying to see how fast he could write a script.

Maybe someone bet him that he couldn’t finish a screenplay, say, on a single cross-country flight. He sits down, he opens his laptop, and he throws in a bunch of dead bodies and accidental murders and famous people acting silly — you know, Coen stuff. Then the plane landed and he hastily typed: “The End.”

Actually, the way “Honey Don’t!” turned out, I doubt it would’ve taken a whole cross-country flight. He could’ve wrapped up and had enough time left to watch a (better) in-flight movie.

Much like last year’s “Drive-Away Dolls” — also co-written with Tricia Cooke, and also directed without brother and longtime collaborator, Joel — “Honey Don’t!” is set in a mad