“Drive-Away Dolls” stars Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon. Released on February 23, 2024, the film has two friends crossing paths with a group of criminals during their road trip to Tallahassee. The film was directed by Ethan Coen, who directed “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind”. He also helmed several films with Joel Coen, like “Raising Arizona”, “Fargo”, “The Big Lebowski”, and “No Country for Old Men”. Road trips are a great way to explore new places or escape life’s problems for a few days. However, they aren’t without their share of setbacks that can derail these journeys. They can range from getting flat tires to getting lost in the middle of nowhere. But neither of them came close to being hunted by wanted criminals. Now that’s a story worth telling your friends and family over dinner. The Coen Brothers have delivered some of the most iconic pieces of cinema in their directorial careers, whether they were comedies, dramas, crime films, or all of the above. However, one of the filmmaking brothers is going solo this year with the latest comedy involving a chaotic road trip. I don’t blame them for taking some time off from each other. If I had been working with my sibling for several years, I would have needed personal space to express my own creativity as well. With a promising cast and a seemingly quirky concept, was this road trip worth taking, or does it prove that two Coen brothers are better than one? Let’s hit the road and find out. The story centers on two lesbian friends whose lives just hit rock bottom during the final days of 1999. Jamie (Qualley) is a free-spirited young woman who recently broke up with her girlfriend, Sukie (Feldstein). Marian (Viswanathan) is a demure, all-work-and-no-play gal who doesn’t take the time to loosen up. Hoping to provide a fresh start, Jamie and Marian decided to go on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee. After renting a car to reach that destination, the girls discover that the vehicle houses a mysterious suitcase. They also find that the car and the briefcase were meant for a group of mobsters led by the mysterious Chief (Domingo). Now on the run, Jamie and Marian must escape this predicament and reach their destination alive. This might shock you film lovers reading this, but I haven’t watched that many movies from the Coen Brothers as of late. I remembered seeing parts of “The Big Lebowski” and 2010’s “True Grit”, and I watched “Hail, Caesar” eight years ago. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the right mindset to watch their other classics like “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men”. I heard nothing but fantastic things about them, but I just can’t get around to viewing them for some reason. I will get to them someday, though. But until then, I’m continuing to look out for some of the recent stuff the Coen Brothers deliver, whether they’re working together or separately, starting with “Drive-Away Dolls”. This film only caught my interest due to the cast involved and my guilty pleasure of watching road trip comedies regardless of the quality. With the addition of one of the Coen Brothers, this would’ve been another wild and bizarrely quirky hit for the acclaimed filmmaker. Instead, it becomes more of an unwinding and scattershot trip that’s running on cruise control for most of its short length. “Drive-Away Dolls” is another experience that left me with all kinds of feelings, but not in a way that screams “absolute cinema”. During some moments, I was like, “What the quack am I watching?” while most scenes got me thinking that they could’ve done more with the elements they’re introducing. However, these experiences are part of why I enjoy watching movies like “Drive-Away Dolls”. They introduced me to some weird stuff I didn’t expect compared to the traditional films I watched. More importantly, they challenge me as an up-and-rising critic to explain my reactions to them and what the filmmakers attempt to accomplish. For “Drive-Away Dolls”, Ethan Coen and his wife, Tricia Cooke (the movie’s co-writer), try to provide an exploitation lesbian road comedy that balances realism with quirkiness, casual sex, and random psychedelic acid trips. While they’re admirable in delivering something subversive with the genre’s formula regarding its tone and direction, they’re sadly not enough to elevate this generically underwhelming road trip. Regarding its screenplay, “Drive-Away Dolls” featured the writing debut of Tricia Cooke, who’s identified as lesbian and queer, hence the movie’s focus on its lesbian protagonists. One thing I should credit the screenplay for is how it represented the topic of sexual life, particularly from a lesbian’s perspective. Amid the road trip shenanigans, the movie showcases Jamie, whose infidelity tarnishes her relationship with Sukie, gradually learning to open up to a more positive experience with someone she cares about more. This character arc would make for a darkly humorous yet heartfelt representation of sexual relationships through the eyes of a lesbian. However, this approach was immensely overshadowed by a script that casually follows the formula’s directions and constantly holds itself back on its bizarre ideas and themes. I found a couple of moments hilarious, including the “stuff” inside the suitcase, but the rest of the humor resembles a flat tire: airless and disposable. Ethan Coen’s direction did try to pick up the pace with his presentation choices, such as the offbeat transitions and camera angles, which is enough for me to check out his other works someday. While visually impressive, they’re more for show than for serving a purpose to its narrative. Even the psychedelic acid trip sequences between a few scenes got me questioning their existence. From what I read, the movie’s tone is supposed to resemble a 1970s exploitation romance film, hence the psychedelic-like scenes, but they just felt so random and out of place for the narrative. I’m guessing the characters may have taken some drugs off-camera. If that’s the case, it should at least serve some purpose to their personalities. I can appreciate what Ethan Coen was trying to do without his brother, but his presentation came off as erratic and scattershot to the point of being messy and underwhelming, especially regarding its short runtime and pacing. Along with Coen’s admirable presentation, the cast offered enough effort in their performances to provide baggage in its rusty characters. The film has plenty of A-list talent under the hood, like Colman Domingo and Matt Damon, but the real stars are the young and fresh ones, which I didn’t mind. It’s nice to see plenty of recognizable people being the center of attention in specific content, blockbusters or otherwise, but it’s even nicer when a batch of new blood takes center stage to draw in an audience with suitable results. I barely recognize Margaret Qualley in some of the movies I watched, like “The Nice Guys” and “Poor Things", mainly due to her being in supporting roles. She has appeared in leading roles in other movies, but I hadn’t got around to watching them. So, you can say that “Drive-Away Dolls” is my first actual exposure to Qualley in a significant role. From what I’ve seen, I thought she did pretty well. Qualley generates some feisty spiciness into Jamie’s sexually driven personality to provide minor cases of silliness in the movie’s rocky road trip. Geraldine Viswanathan was also great as the straitlaced Marian, continuing her solid track record since her breakout role in “Blockers” in 2018. Beanie Feldstein had some decent moments as Sukie, and Colman Domingo was unfairly underused as Chief despite his engaging performance. Overall, “Drive-Away Dolls” drives down a rocky line between quirkiness and bold narrative choices and struggles to deliver from both aspects. It’s the type of movie that understands what it wants to be but doesn’t know how to become one regarding its approach and ideas. The road trip aspect is periodically fun, yet it fails to maintain that momentum for the remaining runtime. At the same time, the narrative is a sporadic and mildly disappointing display of other road trip comedies that inspired it. The cast gave it their all with their performances, especially Qualley and Viswanathan, and the presentation is visually offbeat enough to keep my attention. Sadly, they’re not enough to prevent Ethan Coen’s solo directorial effort from crashing into a ditch due to its subpar screenplay, hit-and-miss humor, pacing, and underwhelming characters. That could be my fault for expecting more out of it based on the marketing, but regardless, this is one road trip I won’t remember for the rest of the year. If you’re interested in watching it, I recommend waiting until it’s available to stream for free. C-
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