Since Joel and Ethan Coen’s much-buzzed-about split as a filmmaking duo several years back, reportedly an amicable decision to pursue different creative outlets (and a short-lived one, at that, given recent news of an in-the-works reunion), the brothers have headed in decidedly different directions.
First came Joel’s “The Tragedy of the Macbeth,” a Denzel Washington showcase shot in a shadowy black-and-white visual palette with faithful Shakespearean dialogue.
Now comes Ethan’s own solo directorial debut, “Drive-Away Dolls,” a crude but breezy, 84-minute comedy that sits on the opposite end of the Coen sensibilities.
That his wife and co-writer Tricia Cooke, a longtime editor for the brothers, referred to it in an interview with Collider as the first installment in a planned “lesbian B-movie trilogy” perhaps describes it best.
Throwing it back to 1999, the film follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), two friends who take a spontaneous road trip from Philadelphia to Tallahassee but get mixed up in a conspiracy along the way. Jamie is newly broken up after having been caught cheating on her girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein), while Marian has long been single at this point and is growing restless at her office job. Jamie wants to help Marian open up.
Problem is, local drive-away rental deskman Curlie (a comically dry Bill Camp) mistakenly lends them a car bound for Tallahassee, thinking they’re the drivers of which he’s been tipped off. But when the actual gang of criminals (Colman Domingo as the serious man to the bumbling henchmen Joey Slotnick and C. J. Wilson, all of whom report to a mysterious higher-up) turns up looking for the car (and the damning package in its trunk), hijinks ensue as the two young women make a series of detours with the crooks, unbeknownst to them, on their tail.
“Drive-Away Dolls” finds most of its appeal in its admittedly low-brow but frequently laugh-out-loud gags. Part raunchy sex comedy, part crime caper and with a dash of stoner humor, it contains some of the hallmarks of a Coen comedy, its crass, slapstick and screwball humor strung together with psychedelic, drugged-out interludes and laced with amusing political satire — though in doing so it at times reminds of more memorable cult classics ranging from “The Big Lebowski” to “Burn After Reading.”
The film lets you know it’s bringing the Coen tastes to the B-movie category, with old-fashioned transitions that crash and wipe across the screen — a stylistic novelty that cheapens the experience in a way. Combine that with the hit-or-miss bits and seemingly random trippy segues and images of dog racing, which don’t reveal their purpose until the final act, and it all feels a bit clunky and disjointed.
Qualley and Viswanathan are good and have chemistry as Jamie and Marian — the free-spirited, Southern-drawled former serving as a sort of yin to the more uptight latter’s yang.
Other results vary, however, with Feldstein’s turn as a foul-mouthed cop seeming exaggerated even given the context. Brief appearances by Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon, as well as frequent cuts back from the leading ladies to Domingo, Slotnick and Wilson, warrant chuckles in the moment but leave little impression in the end.
“Drive-Away Dolls” doesn’t seem to have much beneath its silly exterior, or that it even fleshes out its ideas all that thoroughly — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
From the surprisingly gruesome suspense of the opening (wherein Pascal attempts to protect the briefcase with his life) through a series of absurd and sexual encounters Jamie and Marian have on their adventure, it certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome.
The filmmakers and cast seem to have had fun translating the idea from the page to the screen, and it earns its fair share of laughs for that. “Drive-Away Dolls” doesn’t take itself too seriously, nor should you — and sometimes that’s all that matters.
“Drive-Away Dolls” opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 23.
