Drive-Away Dolls Review: A Misfire for Ethan Coen!
Drive-Away Dolls came as a surprise not only for its raunchy comedy genre, compared to the Coen Brothers previous work, but the first instance where Ethan Coen has written and directed his first film without his brother Joel. Joel adapted The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021 himself, leaving room for Ethan to venture out on his own projects outside of the duo.
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Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke worked on Drive-Away Dolls together, following two lesbian millennials, Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), in 1999 who stumble upon a mysterious briefcase in a rented car they are taking to Tallehassee to visit Marian’s grandmother. Along the way they are being tracked by Chief (Coleman Domingo) and his two employees who will stop at nothing to get it back and conceal from the public what is inside.
In an age where comedies are dying in theaters, Drive-Away Dolls unfortunately doesn’t set a great example as to why we still need them. With Ethan Coen behind the camera and script it would have been a marvelous opportunity to break the genre back into theaters full force. Instead, this movie plays as an immensely tame ride despite its raunchiness.
It felt like Coen and Cooke tried so hard to make the script edgy and forgot to use that extra-oomph on penning a road trip script worth the ride. Its dialogue and “comedic” situations feel intended to solely be raunchy and “shock” audiences rather than being witty and worth any belly laughs.
Take the wheel! #DriveAwayDolls is NOW PLAYING only in theaters! 🚗💨
Get your tickets now: https://t.co/lTscFBgtES pic.twitter.com/7jfZ2EDSp0
— Drive-Away Dolls (@DriveAwayDolls) February 23, 2024
The awkward undertone of Drive-Away Dolls is the time period the film takes place in versus the year the film was released. In 1999, lesbian culture being front and center in a film might have ruffled some feathers and had the intended effect of being “shocking.” However, Jamie and Marian’s characters and the ride they took together did not seem to have the effect that Coen and Cooke intended because of our 2024 mindset.
Lots of scenes came off as “isn’t this crazy we are being this “graphic” and raunchy with two lesbians?” when the answer to that question in 2024 is, no, it doesn’t seem that “crazy.” Drive-Away Dolls felt like it was made for an era that would see its unique outlook and inclusion of lesbian culture as something fresh. Unfortunately, nothing in the film felt particularly fresh or innovative.
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Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan were an enjoyable duo in theory, having a good sense of comedic timing and the acting chops to play off of one another but the script just did not give them enough to shine with. It would have been interesting to see these two in a different film together and revive the comedy genre with a story that better fits 2024 while maintaining its 90s atmosphere. A misfire for Ethan Coen and made it obvious that he was missing the ability to bounce ideas off of his brother as a duo.
‘Drive-Away Dolls’ Rating – 2.5/5
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