Reed: So, we watched that new movie, Drive-Away Dolls…
Griffin: …Against our better judgment.
Reed: What are you talking about, Griff?! That movie’s hysterical, full of captivating personalities, and has a heartwarming love story!
Griffin: Sure–alongside a bevy of ridiculous psychedelic sequences and assorted silly moments that steal time from the actual plot!
Reed: Wait a second. We’ve got to do the summary first, remember?
Drive Away Dolls is a comedy-thriller directed by Ethan Coen (of the renowned Coen Brothers) and his wife Tricia Cooke. It revolves around free-spirited Jaimie (Margaret Quailey) and tightly-wound Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), two lesbian women in 1999 America who both have relationship problems. Jamie has just had a bad breakup with her partner Suzie (Beanie Feldstein), while Marian has not dated anyone in several years. They make a plan to drive together to Tallahassee, Florida, using a contemporary service called the “drive-away” business–customers are deputized to drive cars across the country to specific locations by certain deadlines.
Griffin: Under this setup, Jamie and Marian have to make it to Tallahassee by the day after they rent the car. The only problem: the same car they’re driving was meant to be picked up by three crooks–two bickering henchmen, Arliss and Flint (played by C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnik respectively), and their leader, Chief (Colman Domingo). Those three are also meant to be headed to Tallahassee…to deliver a certain, unsavory package in the car’s trunk to an unknown-yet-sinister figure. Now, with the goons chasing after them, and their mutual attraction to each other rearing its head, Marian and Jamie must figure out what to do.
Reed: Before we go on, Griff, do you think we should tell people about all the sex in this movie?
Griffin: Nah, better not. Our editors wouldn’t like it.
Reed: Okay then! Under no circumstances will we mention in our article that this movie features copious amounts of sex. Not once, anywhere.
Griffin: Sounds good! Now, on with the review.
Reed: I like how the scene transitions resemble a presentation moving to the next slide. More broadly, the camerawork in this movie is excellent–Drive-Away Dolls expertly uses the principle of “show, don’t tell” to curate our impressions. In one scene, for example, a door swings open and shut on the room where the two thugs are beating a man. This means we only get brief glimpses of his beating, staccato notes of violence clarifying that these two mean business.
Griffin: Evidently, the impression this movie “curates” is that our popcorn butter was laced with LSD. Time and again, the story gets interrupted by bizarre passages of psychedelic imagery–complete with rivers of bright colors, pizza toppings whirling into the air, and mysterious black-and-white figures emerging in the foreground. To be fair, the reason for these bits does eventually become clear, but at least half of them are still arguably unnecessary.
And that’s just the start of the ridiculous moments in this film. At one point, after henchman Flint has been knocked face-first to the ground, his assailant’s dog runs out and starts humping him. More than once, old-fashioned horror-movie-type sound effects play while characters react to events with face-clutching ‘50’s-style screams. (One particularly unfunny scene consists of two people literally just frozen in place, screaming continuously, as Flint and Arliss break into their room.) Then again, there could be a good reason for this: as noted by Jacob Rapoport, Junior, with whom we saw the movie, its creators seem to be trying to make it as silly as possible. An unserious film might be exactly what they have in mind. The downside is that the movie becomes very much not everyone’s cup of tea.
Reed: Okay, but still, there’s a lot to love about this film! All the characters, for example, have their own quirks to make them more interesting. I’m particularly interested in how Jaimie and Marian serve as foils to each other–uptight and strict vs. casual and fun-loving, methodical vs. impulsive, traditionally intelligent vs. street-smart.
Griffin: And yet how much more could the movie have done with those differences? Spoiler alert, y’all: romance blooms between Jamie and Marian, and it doesn’t take too long, either. After being initially pushed together, they take maybe 24 hours to get closer. It’s not that there are no obstacles in the way of their relationship–it’s just that those obstacles are fairly quickly overcome…because they have to be, in a movie that’s less than 90 minutes.
Reed: Well, even so, it’s beautiful to see that relationship develop. Jamie brings Marian out of her shell, encouraging her to live more freely–yet as they fall in love, she compromises too, accommodating Marian’s need to ease into things. Watching the pair fall into each others’ rhythm is one of the best parts of Drive-Away Dolls. As
Junior Mia Rubinstein said, “I thought it was a good movie for sapphic people [non-males who are attracted to women]. It made me laugh, especially since I identify as someone that’s sapphic.” (Meanwhile, Rapoport remarked that “everyone who can watch it[,] should watch it.”)
Griffin: Them’s summing-up words! Take it away, Reed.
Reed: Drive-Away Dolls–it hits a few bumps, but it’s a wild ride all the same. Hop on in!
