ThugBoy 19: Homeboys (2022)

Growing up is a challenge for everyone.

Although the budget was a dollar and a dream, Netflix's 'First Kill' managed to gain over 90 million viewing hours and a small cult following. So why was it canceled? Given the trends in series cancellations, it may have been because of the Black and queer protagonists.

Honey Don't! is a chaotic queer noir that's part detective story, part midnight movie madness. Margaret Qualley is fantastic as the wise-cracking private eye Honey, with Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans adding their own dry humor to the mix. The mystery itself is pretty loose, but the film makes up for it with crackling sexual tension, weird side characters, and razor-sharp dialogue. It's messy and uneven, but in the best possible way.

These confines won’t really encourage you to read the film as a metaphor for the nerve-inducing experience we’ve all been through over the last year, however — and in the interest of maintaining your dignity, you probably shouldn’t. While the sociopolitical commentary may have worked for the similarly-themed Buried (2010), in which we find Ryan Reynolds on his own buried alive in the Middle East, but this futuristic take on the premise is best left as a piece of distracting entertainment. Nevertheless, the atmosphere is no less suffocating, literally and dramatically.

The more we learned with each passing minute the bigger the reveal. This film ends with a serious bang and it was truly a joy to watch.