Ethan Coen’s Honey Don't brought this year’s Cannes Film Festival to a lively close, capping off the official selection with a genre-bending mystery comedy that had audiences on their feet.
The film earned a raucous six-minute standing ovation, particularly for its leading ladies Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza, whose red carpet presence matched their magnetic on-screen chemistry. Yet one key cast member was conspicuously absent: Chris Evans, who plays the film’s scene-stealing antagonist — a charming yet sinister small-town pastor.
While many assumed scheduling conflicts or production commitments, Evans later revealed a far more personal reason for missing the splashy premiere. "I wish I could’ve been with my incredible cast and filmmakers at Cannes," he wrote on Instagram story. "But it was my mother’s 70th birthday, and there are some things you just can’t miss! Congrats everyone!!" A sentiment Captain America himself would approve of.
In Honey Don’t!, Qualley stars as Honey O’Donahue, a private detective navigating a string of suspicious deaths linked to a mysterious church. Plaza plays the no-nonsense cop she becomes romantically entangled with — at least until things fall apart. Evans brings a heavy dose of deadpan menace to his role as the charismatic minister, delivering a performance that critics have already dubbed one of his most daring departures.
The film marks Ethan Coen’s second collaboration with Qualley after last year’s Drive-Away Dolls, and will hit U.S. cinemas on August 22 via Focus Features. Meanwhile, Evans has a busy summer ahead: he’ll next appear in Celine Song’s Materialists for A24, alongside Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal. But for now, he’s proved that even in a career of red carpets and accolades, some celebrations are better shared around the family table.
