Spouses Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls is a crazy and twisted mix of blackmail, murder, and sexually adventurous lesbians, with a healthy sprinkling of “WTF is going on” humor. There’s literally nothing out of bounds in Coen and Cooke’s screwball comedy/buddy road trip adventure that wears its R-rating like a lusty badge of honor.
The year’s 1999 and lesbian BFFs are ready for a change of scenery. Jamie, who prefers sampling multiple sexual partners even while in a committed relationship, is coming off a bad breakup with her police officer girlfriend (Beanie Feldstein). Which is as good an excuse as any to embark on a road trip. And the sexually repressed, introverted Marian wants to make the trip from Philadelphia to Tallahassee for a little birdwatching.
What could go wrong with a nice trip to visit nature in all its glory? In Coen and Cooke’s hands, the answer is, to quote an Oscar-winning film’s title, everything (from a vengeful ex to relentless hitmen), everywhere (from gay bars to basement sex orgies), all at once.
The besties accidentally check out a drive-away car meant for a pair of criminals heading to Tallahassee. (Thanks to this film I now know a drive-away car is a free one-way rental. Cool beans.) Marian’s carefully laid out plan to make it to Tallahassee with as few pitstops and side trips as possible is immediately derailed by Jamie’s desire to visit popular lesbian hangouts and assorted points of interest along the way. Plus, as they soon discover, the car they weren’t meant to have has a very special briefcase secured in its trunk, along with a container that’s emitting an ominous fog.
Unlike Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Coen and Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls reveals what’s in the briefcase. And it’s not someone’s soul, diamonds, drugs, or anything easily predictable. The item(s) – no spoilers – set the women on an entirely different path that puts them in conflict with a mob boss (Colman Domingo), the two aforementioned inept thugs (scene stealers Joey Slotnick and C.J. Wilson), and a power-hungry politician (Matt Damon).
My immediate reaction after the screening was that I had no idea how I was going to write a review. Drive-Away Dolls is a really weird movie. Really weird. It pushes the limits of indulgence, pirouettes on the very edge of ridiculousness, and then finds ways to reel things back a bit with genuinely emotional moments. And it all ultimately works, even when it shouldn’t, due to the terrific lead performances by Margaret Qualley as Jamie and Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian.
Qualley’s accent and cadence waver between fun and grating, but her commitment to playing Jamie as a free-spirited wild child never wavers. Jamie’s up for anything – literally – and Qualley exudes that sort of “accept me as I am” quality needed to make the character more than just a two-dimensional sexual thrill seeker.
Viswanathan’s the perfect ice to Qualley’s fire, nailing the reserved, book-loving realist. Marian maps out life while Jamie plays it by ear, and somehow together they balance each other out – as do Qualley and Viswanathan. There’s a palpable connection between Qualley and Viswanathan on screen that makes their character arcs even more fun to watch unfold.
Coen and Cooke were influenced by Russ Meyer’s Motorpsycho, Doris Wishman’s Bad Girls Go to Hell, and Kiss Me Deadly starring Ralph Meeker. They wanted to capture that B-movies from the ‘60s and ‘70s feeling, and Drive-Away Dolls succeeds by going all-in and embracing the ludicrous crime at the film’s heart.
For those who need the familiarity of a Coen Bros vibe, it’s there as well, while standing on its own as a wickedly wacky comedic feast.
GRADE: B
MPAA Rating: R for language, full nudity, crude sexual content, and some violent content
Release Date: February 23, 2024
Running Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
Studio: Focus Features
