“Drive-Away Dolls” Review
Geraldine Viswanathan (Left) and Margaret Qualley go on a cross-country trip and wind up with a valuable briefcase that unlocks a whole heap of trouble in “Drive-Away Dolls”.
It’s hard to find more distinctive American filmmakers than the Coen brothers with many of their films now regarded as masterpieces. However, in recent years, the brothers have explored other cinematic ventures outside their partnership with Ethan making a documentary about rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis and Joel making his Oscar-nominated “The Tragedy of MacBeth”. Now, in his first feature film since making “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” with his brother, Ethan Coen has made “Drive-Away Dolls”, a bizarre comedy that doesn’t live up to the many great films he’s made in the past but still was decent enough as an inconsequential, entertaining ride.
In 1999, Jamie and Marian (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) are two lesbian friends whose lack of luck in love has been eating at them for quite some time. To readjust themselves and get some warm air as Y2K approaches, the pair decide to leave Philadelphia and visit Tallahassee in a rental car. However, the car that Jamie and Marian are driving contains a mysterious briefcase that is incredibly valuable and detrimental to a United States senator (Matt Damon). With a mobster (Colman Domingo) and two hitmen (C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnick) after them, Jamie and Marian must figure out how to keep the creeps off of them, how to get to Tallahassee in one piece and how to get laid before the end of the trip.
Like most Coen brothers films, the characters of “Drive-Away Dolls” are quite dynamic with the leads being a lot of fun. The classic dynamic of a free spirit (Jamie) mixed with a tight-ass (Marian) is utilized well in this film and a lot of that rests on the shoulders of Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Visanathan and their remarkable chemistry. Qualley’s thick Texas accent and Visanathan’s matter-of-fact speech are staples of Coen brothers films and the dialogue of Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s script pairs marvelously with them.
Coen and Cooke’s screenplay is oxymoronic in that it has some of the film’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. Comedically, “Drive-Away Dolls” works very well with every joke, every funny set-up and every bizarre gag landing. If you’re looking for laughs, it’s hard to turn this film away especially since it has the ridiculous energy of “Raising Arizona”. The hyper-sexual energy mixed with linguistically charged dialogue gives the film a fun atmosphere and I would love it if this film existed in the same universe as “Bottoms”. I need to see what would happen if you put Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan in a room with Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri.
However, there’s very few surprises in regards to the larger story being told. You can tell by the end of the first third how this film is more or less going to play out and it all feels like a lighter version of the comedies Coen has made in the past. Elements of the film that you’d think would work in a film by Ethan Coen feel tacked on. A good example are these trippy sequences that make you feel like you’re in a lava lamp. Sure they’re entertaining enough but it’s not apparent from whose perspective these moments are until much later in the film and it's not even one of the main characters. This is in contrast to the bizarrely comical fantasies in “The Big Lebowski”, where you understood these crazy dreams were in the wild subconscious of The Dude.
Playing with expectations is something the Coens are quite good at, especially with the ending of the film as seen in “The Big Lebowski”, “True Grit” and “No Country for Old Men”. In “Drive-Away Dolls”, the climax of the film feels pretty weak with regards to the rest of the film’s wild spirit. There’s no sense of finality and the climatic confrontation between Jamie and Marian and the Senator that has orchestrated the whole operation is underwhelming.
While not the stunning return to narrative film I expected from Ethan Coen, “Drive-Away Dolls” nevertheless provides some fun laughs, memorable characters and an entertaining 90 minutes. I wouldn’t say that I’d give the film a glowing endorsement but I think it’s worth giving a shot if you’re in the mood for a quick, crazy and occasionally heartfelt trip.
