Drive-Away Dolls (2024)
Ethan Coen, sans brother Joel, directs Drive-Away
Dolls, a caper comedy about two lesbians who unwittingly transport a
package that belongs to the mob. Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is a free spirit who
has just broken up with her girlfriend (Beanie Feldstein), and Jamie's best
friend, Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), is an office worker who is uptight and
tragically single. The two friends decide to take an impromptu road trip to
Tallahassee, Florida. However, the car rental guy (Bill Camp) screws up and
gives the girls a car that contains a briefcase that was supposed to be picked
up by gangsters. So two inept (is there any other?) henchmen (Joey Slotnick and
C.J. Wilson) are in pursuit of the girls.
Drive-Away Dolls is written by
Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cook, who also serves as the film's editor. Even
though Joel Coen isn't involved here, there was a hope that it would be
somewhat of a return to the Coen brothers' earlier zaniness like Raising
Arizona (1987) or O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). That was probably
too much to hope for, because Drive-Away Dolls just doesn't work.
The movie is frustrating in its
execution. Occasionally the dialog is amusing, but most of the time, the verbal
jokes don't land. The same can be said for the visual gags. The cuts to the
visual jokes almost always come too late.
A chase comedy like this should have a
high energy, so it's odd that the pacing is so sluggish. Seriously, this
picture runs only 84-minutes but actually feels like it was clocking in around
two-hours.
Now, Qualley and Viswanathan are very
good in their roles. They made their characters very likable, and their
relationship in the movie is sweet. Maybe Drive-Away Dolls would have
worked if the filmmakers went for just a funny character study and dropped the
chase/caper subplot.
