Ethan Coen’s Queer Comedy Gets Big Laughs

Drive-Away Dolls will have you laughing out loud in a comically raunchy ode to 70s exploitation cinema. The premise has a pair of queer besties driving a car to Tallahassee, Florida; blissfully unaware of the mysterious briefcase in the trunk or the bumbling criminals hot on their trail. Oscar-winning director Ethan Coen and his wife, screenwriter Tricia Cooke, revel absurdly in a lesbian-fueled romp chock-full of hilarious B-movie characters. There are jaw-dropping surprises aplenty, but the script and its shenanigans admittedly lose steam despite a breezy runtime.

Set in 1999 before the Y2K hysteria, Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is suspected of getting down and dirty with another woman while on the phone with her girlfriend. The irate Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) has had enough of Jamie’s philandering ways and rampant promiscuity. She wants her out of their apartment pronto. Meanwhile, the sexually repressed and demure Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) is tired of being hit on by lame men at work. She decides to get a “drive-away” job as an inexpensive means of visiting her aunt in Tallahassee. Jamie has nowhere else to go, so she volunteers to come along for the ride.

Marian and Jamie pick up a Dodge Aries from the acerbic Curlie (Bill Camp) before beginning their road trip in earnest. Jamie has dutifully mapped all the good lesbian bars on the route down south. Curlie’s gobsmacked when fixers Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C. J. Wilson) walk in a few hours later to get the same car. The Chief (the brilliant Colman Domingo) doesn’t want to hear Curlie’s excuses. They have to find the car before the women discover a silver briefcase hidden inside the trunk.

Drive-Away Dolls

3/5

Release Date February 23, 2024

Runtime 1hr 24min

Pros

• Hilarious screenplay
• Excellent central performances
• Uplifting message without being too saccharine

Cons

• Despite a short runtime, the movie runs out of energy toward the end
• The raunchy jokes get tired

An Intriguing Set-Up

Drive-Away Dolls has enough debaucherous snogging to cause chapped lips and a herpes outbreak. Jamie, in her loquacious Texas drawl, is obsessed with getting as much action as possible. She’s unrepentantly sex-positive on the constant hunt for pleasure. The prim and proper Marian, who reads Henry James novels to relax, is the polar opposite. Her long dry spell shocks Jamie, who then makes it her mission to get Marian bedded. They have vastly different personalities but are both sweet and likable. Their efforts to make each other happy lead to a growing realization about the nature of a burgeoning relationship.

The antagonists also have completely disparate character dynamics. Flint likes to pummel his way forward with fists and dripping machismo, while Arliss fancies himself a smooth-talking negotiator. The rub is that they are both utterly inept, so no one takes them seriously until the beatdowns begin. Their constant bungling of the chase leads to the exasperated Chief grabbing the reins. Thankfully, he also has Henry James to keep his mind occupied.

Related Exclusive: Geraldine Viswanathan & Beanie Feldstein Celebrate Queer Love in Drive-Away Dolls Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan go on a road trip with criminals and a jealous ex (Beanie Feldstein) on their trail in Drive-Away Dolls.

Coen channels the slapstick humor of his classics Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski with a salacious twist. The characters’ goofy back and forth is continually aided by absolutely bonkers sight gags. Drive-Away Dolls swings from purposely gratuitous nudity, trippy Miley Cyrus hallucinations (yup — you read that right), and the big suitcase reveal, which will have eyes wide like saucers. It’s all gleefully overblown for maximum comedic effect. Some might say Coen veers into stupid territory, but he announces his intentions in the opening scene. The film doesn’t take itself seriously, so you shouldn’t either.

Big Surprises in Store

Qualley steals the show with a wacky lead performance that fuels an overall message of acceptance. Jamie’s hornball philosophy of female sexual liberation isn’t a negative, she cheats on Sukie because their coupling didn’t satisfy her voracious needs. Jamie’s not a player trying to manipulate feelings or hurt anyone. She just wants to get busy with every available attractive woman. STD concerns aside, Coen skewers the morality police by also representing the judgmental and hypocritical other side.

Queer love is the film’s integral theme. Coen and Cooke’s script addresses the right of marriage equality. This is why the film is set before the 21st century and the Supreme Court’s legalization. An assault on this landmark decision is brewing with frightening speed and power. The message here is that no one should ever have to hide their feelings for another consenting adult. Frankly, it’s also none of your business if that coupling is offensive.

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Drive-Away Dolls sputters to the finish line in the third act. The gags and gimmicks are no longer funny or shocking. That’s a big negative considering it’s only eighty-four minutes. Detractors can fault the film for being wildly uneven. Coen and Cooke clearly have no shortage of imagination, so it’s strange they couldn’t add more spices to flavor the stew, but the good here far outweighs the bad. You may even find yourself cramping up from too much laughter, which is high praise.

Drive-Away Dolls is a production of Working Title Films. It will be released theatrically on Feb. 23rd, from Focus Features.

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