Jamie regrets her breakup with her girlfriend, while Marian needs to relax. In search of a fresh start, they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee. Things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals.
Chuck says:
I have no doubt that Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls” will have its passionate fans and that it will likely become a cult classic. It’s purposely eccentric, broadly rendered and if you were ever required to cite a film that dances to the beat of its own drum, this would be a prime example. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn’t but I suspect that won’t matter to those who will embrace it. Though erratic, the film is not without its charms, and while it is similar in tone to some of the director’s collaborations with his brother Joel, (“Raising Arizona,” and “The Hudsucker Proxy”), it’s a bit too messy in its execution to be considered a success.
Set in 1999, this adventure, the first in a proposed trilogy, centers on Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), two lesbians who come together through an unusual set of circumstances. The former has just broken up with her possessive police officer partner Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) and is need of a change, so she decides to take a road trip to Tallahassee, Florida to clear her mind. Not wanting to make the 15-hour drive from Philadelphia by herself, she asks Marian to come along, a decision made to alleviate the stultifying boredom that’s pervaded her life.
However, what should have been a simple trip is complicated when they show up at a seedy car rental shop for a drive-away – a vehicle that needs to be delivered to a specific location – and are given the wrong auto. Unbeknownst to them, there are two items in the trunk of the car that should have been given to goons, Flint and Arliss (C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnick) to deliver, items of a highly sensitive nature that are worth a great deal of money to the person behind this job.
What ensues is a dual road-trip as Jamie and Marian ignore their agreed upon timeline and careen about Georgia and other points south while the two amateurish hoods give chase. Eccentrics galore cross their paths and once the titular characters discover just what’s in their rental, things take a radical turn.
Coen purposely uses a tacky, B-movie aesthetic, sending a clear message just how we’re supposed to take these shenanigans. This is just the most obvious of many choices the director makes to inform the viewer we are watching an elaborate Looney Toons feature, albeit one with graphic violence and gratuitous sex.
Coen is firmly committed in this approach, employing smash cuts and cartoonish sound effects while directing many in his cast to give outsized performances. Qualley and Viswanathan are great fun, the former generating laughs as the motor-mouthed, out-going to a fault Jamie, the latter countering her perfectly as the withdrawn, repressed wallflower Marian. Their contentious chemistry is deserving of a better movie, as is Feldstein’s fury-filled turn as the spurned Sukie. Unfortunately, Wilson and Slotnick struggle to connect, Colman Domingo as their handler is wasted and Matt Damon, in an extended cameo, is given a part that could have been played by anyone else, as the irony of using his star persona with this role fails to land.
The script for “Dolls” strikes me as one in need of a rewrite or three and one can’t help but wonder what Ethan’s brother Joel may have brought to the project. Their past collaborations, even those that might be considered trifles, had a depth and polish to them this feature sorely lacks. Joel’s first solo feature, “The Tragedy of MacBeth” was as ambitious as “Dolls” is lackluster. Take that for whatever it’s worth.
2 Stars
