Film Review: Drive-Away Dolls

Coming from a catalogue of male centred films such as No Country for Old Men, Inside Llewyn Davis, and The Big Lebowski, it is hard to gage just how two lesbians visiting various queer bars over the country with a mysterious secret locked in their trunk would fit into the directorial dimensions of an archetypal Coen Brothers movie. Refreshingly, it bypasses all of the audiences’ preconceived expectations of a Coen film and delivers a tightly ran experience with all the frantic energy of a new indie release.

The film’s amusing script, pulled together by Ethan Coen’s wife Tricia Cooke, is set on not taking itself too seriously. In fact, all the expectations of severity are dissolved within the opening scene. Coen, who's clearly called upon his flashy phone book of A lister contacts, has Pedro Pascal situated at the archetypal bar of Americana: from the purple, reddish hues, to the satirical reliance on cowboy cliches in dialogue, we watch as Pedro comically navigates a high stakes battle in a back alley. Within the opening moments the film immediately places hilarity and absurdity as its two main focal points, which sets it up brilliantly for the road trip that follows.

Two young lesbians, Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), set out on a two-day trip to Florida. The former with the intention of assuaging the guilt of her day-old breakup with a whistle stop tour of Florida’s gay bars and the latter with the sole intention of visiting her aunt. 

In the limited scope of a car, naturally the film becomes quite dialogue heavy, and thus all the themes of the queer feminine experience are set up to be explored with some depth and genuine respect. Jamie values cheap, sleazy sex over meaningful connection; this is in sharp contrast to Marian who in turn fulfils the role of an uptight shrewd, and in her preference for authenticity, the film forces her to become sexually repressed and boring. As the two travel together, this combative juxtaposition is fleshed out and redefined as the two women are forced to consider the social expectations of one another. Some moments tinge toward depth, but on the whole the dialogue remains light, simple and fun. Whilst this is certainly not a bad thing, and provides a very easy viewing, the barrage of sex jokes does become slightly banal and repetitive as we slip into the latter half of the movie.

Driving the expanse of Philadelphia to Florida the film becomes a portrait of 90s America. Drive-Away Dolls evoes the nostalgic aesthetics of 80’s psychedelia through disco, fashion and diners. Ethan crafts a form of classic Americana, via sprawling highways and pit stops; all of this coalesces in creating a visual treat that showcases Coen’s expected skills as a director.

Lingering in the air is the impending Y2K frenzy, and thus the fashion of the film opts towards 80s silhouetting with modern touches. The clothing choices are certainly coloured by modernity, and it’s hard not to draw parallels between their outfits and contemporary fashion trends, which are currently seeking to relive late 90s and early 2000s aesthetics. The cultural taste of the film has certainly been shaped by contemporary marketing, which is not necessarily a critique of Coen, but a small feature that modernises a film clearly trying quite hard to draw upon all the charm of a 90s road trip.

Drive-Away Dolls certainly has the charm and hilarity of an indie debut film, but with a name and cast with the prestige of Ethan Coen, the over-reliance on sleaze and sex as a stand in for genuine comedy feels slightly misplaced. It will certainly become a divisive film amongst the fans of the Coen Brother’s movies, but by no means is it bad, just a project that recontextualises Ethan Coen as a director against the dramatically different style of his brother.

Drive-Away Dolls is now showing at Broadway.