Chris Evans Played A Villain In This Star-Studded 2025 Crime Comedy Streaming On Netflix

Chris Evans played a charismatic cult leader in 2025's "Honey Don't!" which was unfairly overlooked upon its initial release. Thankfully, we can now stream the movie over on Netflix and not only discover one of Evans' best recent performances, but a fun, sexy, violent neo-noir. 

Since he hung up his shield and left Captain America behind,  Evans has struggled to find his place. "The Gray Man," "Ghosted," and "Red One" weren't exactly triumphs, after all. Still, Evans' contributions to 2025's "Materialists" reminded us of his talent and irrepressible charm, which is sadly yet to result in a major hit outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I've been rooting for Evans ever since his 2014 directorial debut, "Before We Go," which was unfairly savaged by critics. But there's no doubt he makes it hard sometimes.

"Honey Don't!" didn't really do much to change that, but at least it wasn't "The Gray Man," or "Ghosted," or "Red One." The film marked a departure from those generic streaming efforts for Evans, who played a slimy cult leader in a film that was anything but generic.

After parting ways with his brother and longtime collaborator Joel Coen, Ethan Coen collaborated with his wife, Tricia Cooke, on a planned "lesbian B-movie trilogy," to use the director's phrasing. The first of these was 2024's "Drive-Away Dolls," a film noir homage with a B-movie aesthetic and the Coens' signature dry humor. /Film's review dubbed "Drive-Away Dolls" a tidal wave of naughty lesbian energy, and that wave began to crest with the second in the planned trilogy, "Honey Don't!," which also showcased Evans having what appeared to be a complete ball.

2025's "Honey Don't!" saw Margaret Qualley sizzle in a moody, unabashedly queer noir, which Ethan Coen directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Tricia Cooke. Qualley plays Honey O'Donahue, a private investigator in Bakersfield, California, who takes up the case of Mia Novotny, a young girl found dead in a wrecked car. Honey's investigation leads her to the Four-Way Temple, a church run by Chris Evans' Reverend Drew Devlin, a sex-obsessed cult leader who's also running a drug dealing operation.

Evans is clearly enjoying himself as Devlin, whose exploitative ways and penchant for "fellowship" with his female followers make for one heck of an unlikable dude. But Evans' own enjoyment of the role makes scenes with the cult leader entirely watchable, if not downright fun. The film also features Aubrey Plaza as a police officer and love interest for Honey, alongside Charlie Day as a detective, Kristen Connolly as Honey's older sister Heidi, and Talia Ryder as Honey's niece Corinne. Billy Eichner also appears as one of Honey's clients who suspects his partner of infidelity. But as star-studded as the film is, /Film's Bill Bria summed it up best, writing, "It's Qualley who takes the reins of the film so thoroughly that it'd still be a pleasure to watch even if there were no one else in it."

Sadly, "Honey Don't!" was somewhat overlooked. Despite being a sexy, violent noir that was also a lot of fun, the movie became one of the most underrated movies of 2025 when it failed to make much of an impact, critically or otherwise.

"Honey Don't!" premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival ahead of a theatrical release in August of that year. It went on to gross $7.4 million on an estimated $20 million budget and received mostly negative reviews. Ultimately, the film managed a 45% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics seemingly unimpressed with what they saw as a sort of fun but directionless neo-noir.

Helen O'Hara of Empire was quite taken with the "colourful characters and cool moments" but ultimately found that they only kept us "entertained on the road to nowhere" and that the film was, at its core, "a shaggy-dog story with no real point." The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey had a stab at figuring out a "point" to "Honey Don't!," observing that the film seemed to be trying to explore "how survivors see themselves and that loaded word 'victimhood.'" Even then, however, Loughrey found that the movie "struggle[d] to make much sense out of itself and its oddball cast." Still, the film had its fans, with Kyle Logan of the Chicago Reader describing it as "a fast-paced crime comedy that's full of laugh-out-loud scenes."

One aspect critics certainly weren't upset about, however, was the performances, with several writers praising Margaret Qualley and Chris Evans for their committed portrayals. That's just one reason why it's worth streaming this overlooked effort on Netflix. Otherwise, you can always stream "The Rip" director's box office bomb with Gerard Butler instead. But for those who've been craving a little more from Evans than forgettable streaming nonsense, "Honey Don't!" is well worth your time.