Drive-Away Dolls
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After Joel Coen went solo with The Tragedy of Macbeth, it’s now brother Ethan’s turn to deliver a singular directorial outing with Drive-Away Dolls. While Macbeth felt like a massive aesthetic and thematic departure from the usual fare of Coen brothers pictures, Drive-Away Dolls looks to capture the same quirky spirit of films like Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading, and, most recently, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
There are certainly flourishes of those comedies peppered into Ethan’s 84-minute-long road trip adventure, but it doesn’t hit the same as when he made moving pictures with his brother. For once, the allegedly simple plot of two best friends, Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) on a road trip to Tallahassee, Florida, goes in way too many directions that it immediately forgets to tell a cohesive – and fun – story.
Perhaps a plot mixing road trip with political conspiracy could’ve worked had the runtime been longer, but Coen (and co-writer Tricia Cooke, who also acts as editor) rush through every aspect of its storytelling, going from point A to point Z in a matter-of-fact way, with very little to offer beyond dazzling transitions from Cooke and cinematographer Ari Wegner on God mode, deftly blending 70s psychedelia with 1950s camp (in a 1990s setting – jarring, but fun). Those transitions are incredibly impressive, as they not only solidify its striking aesthetic but help set a tone and rhythm that could’ve otherwise faltered if the film slowly drifted from bathing in total absurdity. It’s only because of that absurdity that the film remains mostly fun, even if the flaws stick out like a massive sore thumb.
The story appears simple on paper: Jamie and Marian want to travel to Tallahassee and rent a car from Curlie (Bill Camp), who is expecting two people to show up at his rental shop to demand a car to Tallahassee. However, Jamie and Marian weren’t the ones he was expecting, prompting The Chief (Colman Domingo) to an operation to retrieve the two girls who were unknowingly carrying a case with sensitive material alongside the head of an art dealer (Pedro Pascal) who attempted to sell the material inside the case.
Other critics have blatantly spoiled what that piece of sensitive material is, but this review will not mention its contents other than that it may shock – or delight – audiences. What can be said is that The Chief works for republican Senator Channel (Matt Damon) and is looking for the case to tie up loose ends that could put his political career in jeopardy. In those moments, Drive-Away Dolls shines, particularly when discussing broader political implications linked to the conspiracy (including one not-so-subtle jab at a current republican justice of the Supreme Court). Damon is effortlessly hilarious in a small role and makes the most of his screen time with Qualley and Viswanathan, who are equally as scintillating here.
While the chemistry between Qualley and Viswanathan may appear distant, the two form a palpable symbiosis as the film progresses near its ending. As they [quickly] grow, so does the audience’s understanding of Jamie and Marian evolves. It is, however, a shame that the film doesn’t spend much time with the two characters to create traits that evolve beyond one-note attributes. Jamie is extraverted and has a thick southern accent, while Marian is introverted and slowly opens up in the film’s wild adventure. There’s not much beyond that, even if the two give fun performances.
The same can be said about the supporting turns, with Beanie Feldstein playing a tough, no-holds-barred police officer or Joey Slotnick and C.J. Wilson as the bumbling sidekicks of The Chief. Everyone plays caricatures, which is welcomed when drawing a comedy, but none feel like their characters can operate beyond the surface-level caricatures Coen and Cooke draw them. As such, the film fails to give audiences characters to root for, especially when pitting one side against another, even if its all-star cast (plus the most surprising cameo of the year so far) do well within the contrivances they’re working in.
Because of this, it’s impossible to connect with Drive-Away Dolls beyond its dynamic visuals and editing and mostly fun performances from its impressive cast. At 84 minutes, it doesn’t feel enough to give enough meat around the bone, with what looks more like a technical exercise in transitions for Coen and Cooke than something more tangible, where lively characters are more than their one-note attributes because their traits are elevated by its zany, ultra-absurd world and a story that keeps evolving with twists and turns that make sense. Sadly, they don’t, no matter the multiple fun jokes the film contains. Perhaps it might have been a futile expectation to think it would be as good as Burn After Reading or The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but it’s clear Ethan needs to make amends with Joel as soon as possible before churning out something (far) worse than Drive-Away Dolls.