Review: Drive-Away Dolls

Directed by: Ethan Coen

Written by: Ethan Coen & Tricia Cooke

Starring: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo

Rating: [3.5/5]

When two individuals have found immense success working together for decades, the way their synergy has created masterworks leads one to believe what role each of them plays. As the Coen brothers have decided to make their own films separately, with Drive-Away Dolls, we can see Ethan certainly had more of a proclivity towards horniness and it allows this film to be unapologetic in its approach and wildly entertaining. 

Seeking to take some time away and head down to Tallahassee, Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) gets joined by her friend Jamie (Margaret Qualley), who’s escaping the fallout of a recent break-up. When they pick up their rental car, they get a car meant for someone else that contains something very important in the trunk. Unaware of the importance of what they carry, violent men pursue and try to track down Marian and Jamie. 

The ridiculousness of Drive-Away Dolls serves as its greatest asset in creating a circumstance we have seen before but through the lens of an unapologetically lesbian story as we follow Marian and Jamie on this road trip. Both are very different in their approach to their sexual life with Jaime very open to sexually engaging with any woman, even when in a monogamous relationship, while Marian seeks to take things much slower. It makes this journey down to Tallahassee an opportunity for Marian to take some time away but Jamie seeks to ensure she can get her friend laid on the way down South. 

Seeing how the purpose of their trip diametrically opposes the men chasing after them as they unknowingly hold something in their possession of great value. It sets the tonal difference at hand with these goons wanting to get to them while Jamie and Marian go on his carefree journey to where the former just wants to help her friend get some, while indulging in it herself. It sets up this comedic dynamic at the helm that allows these actors to excel, especially Margaret Qualley. 

Plenty gets said nowadays about actors getting their start in Hollywood because of nepotism, often labeled as “nepo babies.” I certainly carry an opinion about them, but the one that continually dodges any of the criticism for me is Margaret Qualley, who just continues to knock it out of the park. She has continually picked fascinating projects and leaves a discernible mark in each of them with every performance bringing something different to the table. In Drive-Away Dolls she portrays the cool character who only really seeks to find pleasure for herself but does it in such a lackadaisical and comedic manner that makes her immediately captivating. She brings such a laissez-faire attitude that meshes very well with Geraldine Viswanathan’s more reserved character. Viswanathan in her own right also knows how to play this type of character as done in her previous works and she serves as another bright spot in the cast. They play so well off of each other here, and certainly meet right at Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke sought to create this whimsical and hilarious story. 

Ethan Coen through this feature displays exactly where his interest lies in telling his own stories detached from Joel and it certainly demonstrates his leaning towards the more comedic side of storytelling. Given Joel’s first film apart from Ethan involved a black-and-white Shakespearean adaptation, we get to see the differences in their styles and the type of tones they fall into when telling their stories. Together they delivered some incredible films and separately they still manage to craft something unique and in Ethan’s case, something wildly fun and equally ridiculous in all the best ways. 

Incredibly heightened and going in directions I did not expect in its revelations, Drive-Away Dolls serves as a wonderfully entertaining time at the movies. We have Margaret Qualley continuing to cement herself as the best young “nepo baby” in Hollywood today, as she never fails to dazzle on the big screen. In this film we receive an unapologetically lesbian film that has more casual sexually explicit scenes than typically get displayed in a film to hit mainstream theaters and allows horniness to prevail. This journey has a great mix of self-discovery and seriousness while also just maintaining an overall silliness to it that makes it a fun and entertaining little story combining some very talented individuals under one project.