Alice, Darling is a new drama thriller directed by Mary Nighy. This is the first movie she has directed and has only directed some episodes of different TV series before this. In the film, Alice (Anna Kendrick) goes away with her friends Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) for Tess's birthday. She lies to her partner Simon (Charlie Carrick) about this. She has an uneasy relationship with Simon, in which Simon always dominantly makes the decisions for them. This lie turns Alice's time with her friends from a fun girls' trip into a precarious one. For example, Alice begins to wonder if she should go public with her problems to her friends. This can only completely ruin the fun. Besides the fact that this is only the first film that Mary Nighy has directed, this is also only the second film for which writers Alanna Francis and Mark Van de Ven have written the story. Because of the starting sides of both of them, they keep this film a bit on the simple side. Unfortunately, the message about someone who is in an uncomfortable relationship with a partner who makes all the choices is not very strong. With this film they also take their time to make it clear to you as a viewer what exactly this film is about. For example, in the beginning you first have to try to guess what kind of film you are going to see. The storytelling of the film is unfortunately a bit on the rushed side, so the film sometimes jumps quickly from scene to scene, to show some different moments. As a result, the story can sometimes remain a bit difficult to follow and the film is sometimes filled with unnecessary scenes, which have little or no value for the final ending. It also takes a while before you clearly learn about the different relationships between all the characters. As a result, the acting in the beginning of the film unfortunately does not come across very well at first. Fortunately, this changes later in the film and most actors know how to act better and more clearly. You just keep missing a clearer history of the characters, to really understand them. Due to the lack of background information and some lack of other details, the film sometimes comes across as too rushed or simple. As a viewer, this makes you wonder why the characters can't just talk about each other's problems as friends. Anna Kendrick looks good in the lead role, but this is not her best acting. She has done better acting in her other films. Kaniehtiio is also more of a TV actress and knows how to do nice acting, but does not do anything special with her role. Wunmi Mosaku plays more like the backbone of the girlfriend group, trying to balance everything between everyone. Charlie Carrick unfortunately comes forward a bit too exaggerated in his role, so that the film loses some of its credibility.

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