By Sarah Berger ’27
Arts & Entertainment Editor
“Drive-Away Dolls” marks the solo directorial debut of Ethan Coen, who is famed for his work with his brother, Joel Coen. The movie is thematically similar to many of their combined works, though the cast is radically different from that of movies like “The Big Lebowski.”
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
It follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) as two friends who embark on a road trip after Jamie’s infidelity-based breakup with her police officer-girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein.)
Due to a mix-up with their rental car, they drive off with a severed head and a briefcase full of mysterious contents, resulting in the girls being pursued cross-country by a gang of mysterious, bumbling criminals. The chase is more of a subplot in the grand scheme of the movie, which focuses more heavily on Jamie and Marian’s relationship, as well as their polar opposite styles of expressing sexuality. Although, at face value, it seems like a fun movie, these different elements make it feel discordant and scattered.
Considering “Drive-Away Dolls” is sold as a road trip movie, there’s a lack of any road trip feel. Jamie and Marion bounce around from nondescript hotel to nondescript inn, and there’s not a lot of emphasis on how the scenery or culture shifts as they move across the country — all aspects of the typical road trip film.
Although it might be a large selling point for previous fans of the Coen brothers, the movie would be more successful without the criminal plot line. As far as thrillers go, there’s no tension or mystery. Although it tries to be a black comedy, it comes off as callous and unfunny. If the time devoted to painfully unfunny riffing was instead dedicated to a deeper exploration of who Jamie and Marion are, the movie would be much more poignant.
If the movie was willing to go deeper, it might be easier to see why Jamie is presented in such an unflattering light. She cheats, she’s conniving, inconsiderate and lazy, and she will do anything in pursuit of sexual gratification. The few moments of compassion she shows throughout the film are immediately overridden by a reversion to her old ways, so it’s hard to find her relatable or to root for her. Her actions could be redeemable, but there’s no explanation of why she acts the way she does.
Marian doesn’t have anything particularly watchable about her, either. Her only personality trait is being prudish in comparison to Jamie’s prurience and cautious in comparison to her thoughtlessness. She also reads.
The two of them might make a compelling couple for believers in the age-old aphorism that opposites attract, but there’s not quite enough chemistry between them to make that feel true, because it never goes any deeper than that.
Although many armchair Google reviewers have critiqued “Drive-Away Dolls” for being graphic — perhaps as a code word for lesbian — it’s not much raunchier than your average comedy. It’s just that in most other comedies, the sex jokes are funny.
Here, they comprise every joke, every spare second, every subplot — and central plot, though that’s not revealed until the end — and every moment of intended emotional poignancy. Dialogue is never spoken without being immediately accompanied by an innuendo or a proposition. Even for the least prudish watcher, it’s just a bit too much. There are plenty of jokes in the world, but “Drive-Away Dolls” only seems familiar with one.
For the quality that it offers, “Drive-Away Dolls” feels like it came out many years too late. If you’re looking for a feminist remake of a bro-comedy, “Booksmart,” which also stars Beanie Feldstein, did a much better job several years ago. If it's poignant lesbian sexual exploration, “But I’m a Cheerleader” came out in 1999.
There will always be a need for the type of movie “Drive-Away Dolls” was trying to be and for diverse, funny and messy representation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t live up to the genre it’s trying to spoof, and as a result, it fails as both a parody and a movie in its own right.