Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

By: Mike Ward on Thursday, February 22

R Running Time: 84 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Drive-Away Dolls is a wild, sapphic romp that marks the solo directorial debut of Ethan Coen, with a screenplay written by his wife, Tricia Cooke.

  • Calls to mind the irreverant Coen Brothers comedies of the past, and Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan make for a great on-screen duo.

  • Bold, direct, and in-your-face, this movie more than earns its R rating within the first few minutes.

NO

  • I admire how unapologetic and bold this is, but the film does contain lots of sexual content and frank and direct dialogue that mainstream audiences may not quite be ready for.

  • If you are not a fan of the more wacky form of Coen Brothers comedy, this is not going to be a movie for you.

  • When you remove all the shock and awe, this is a road trip movie about a missing briefcase. A premise, and quite frankly a movie, we have seen many times before.


OUR REVIEW

In a year where the first two months have given us a little bit of everything one could want at the multiplex, an homage to ‘70s grindhouse cinema is not something I had on my punch card. And yet here we have Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls, a throwback to cult classic, exploitation cinema. The film, a sexually charged road-trip flick about two lesbian best friends on the run from a couple of goons, finds the two besties driving a car they should not have, possessing a mysterious briefcase they should not have, and Tallahassee, Florida as their final destination.

The first film directed by Coen apart from brother Joel, and co-written by Coen and wife Tricia Cooke, Drive-Away Dolls is the first of a reported B-movie-inspired “lesbian trilogy” the pair are putting together. This first one pops like a firecracker, with Margaret Qualley a force as Jamie. Spitting out a honey-soaked Southern drawl, Jamie has recently broken up with police officer girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein), due to her constant inability to stay faithful. Jamie, now looking to bounce out of town, convinces her introverted friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) to let her come along from Philadelphia to Tallahassee, with Marian heading to the Sunshine State to go on a bird watching excursion. As Jamie secures a drive-away car from local shop owner Curlie (a hilarious Bill Camp), the duo hit the road.

As a platonic couple on the run, Marian is enamored with her friend’s bold behavior, while Jamie sees Marian as needing to come out of her shell. They make a great pair.

Cooke’s dialogue comes rapid-fire and fearless, the film’s 84-minute running time breezing by. Frequently amusing, Drive-Away Dolls very much lives in a cinematic space audiences are not accustomed to nowadays. Extended sex scenes aside, the movie looks and feels as if it exists in a different time period where moviegoing audiences, and people in general, were a lot less uptight, more open-minded, and far more accepting of a go-for-broke, anything-goes kind of story.

Honestly, a fair amount of Drive-Away Dolls does miss. Also, it should be mentioned that outside of Emma Stone’s recent turn in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, audiences nowadays have fallen out of habit in seeing a movie this forthright and direct with its sexuality. In some ways, it is fascinating to think that Joel Coen, in his first solo feature, opted to reinterpret Shakespeare with the 2021, avant-garde, black-and-white “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Brother Ethan seems to long for the days of the Coen Brothers most acclaimed and risky comedic efforts. Though for how much energy this movie generates, and how wild and uproarious it can feel at times, Drive-Away Dolls also feels like a reinterpretation of scenes and moments we have seen in previous Coen Brothers films. 

For all the laughs and jaw-dropping moments, there are scenes here which will confound most viewers. One cameo in particular will not only surprise folks, but leave most scratching their head as to why the person appears in the film at all. And that doesn’t even get into the subplot of what is contained in that briefcase; contents which would make Cynthia Plaster Caster proud. Who wants the briefcase? A compromised senator with his reasons, played by an Oscar-winning actor I personally will not reveal - even if their involvement in the film is easy enough to discover.

Basically, if Cynthia Plaster Caster’s legacy is not something you know of, then perhaps Coen and Cooke’s comedy may not be the film for you. The film’s brazen, devil-could-care attitude makes this feel like a movie which easily could have played on late night cable television for years. And perhaps therein lies the appeal, because Drive-Away Dolls is not apologizing for anything - proudly and unabashedly devoid of any compromise.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Joey Slotnick, C.J. Wilson, Bill Camp, Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Miley Cyrus

Director: Ethan Coen
Written by: Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke
Release Date: February 23, 2024
Focus Features