Drive-Away Dolls

4 outta 5

Drive-Away Dolls is a crazy road-trip movie featuring crime, severed heads, lots of cameos, lots of quips and lots of sex for its incredibly zippy hour and twenty-four minutes. Directed and co-written by Ethan Cohen (his first film without his brother Joel) it has the bizarre absurdist energy, dialogue patter, dopey crime bits and high energy that was infused into their films like The Big Lebowski. The core story between the two leads has a remarkably sweet centre amid all the wackiness, and keeping things enjoyable and messy as it gleefully careens from romance to ultraviolence to high stakes to road-trip antics.

In the ancient past of 1999, Jamie (Margaret Qualley) breaks up with her girlfriend, Sukie (Beanie Feldstein). With nowhere to stay, she takes her friend, Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) on a road-trip to deliver a car to Florida, making a lot of fun stops along the way to various lesbian bars to get Marian some action. What neither of them know is that in the trunk of the car are various artifacts that were carried by a mysterious man (Pedro Pascal). These artifacts are being chased down by a criminal, (Coleman Domingo) and his two goons, Arlis (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J. Wilson). The girls are shocked to discover what is in the car and rapidly end up in more shenanigans that eventually involve an influential Senator (Matt Damon) wanting his property back.

The two friends on the cross-country jaunt, Jamie and Marian, are set in the standard comedy dynamic of straight character and wacky character. It is a well-worn comedy trope, but it remains sturdy. Qualley’s Jamie is amusingly manic, and some of her reactions and glances are hilarious. She is especially funny when looking befuddled and motormouthed Jamie supplies the best quips. Viswanathan as Marian is the buttoned down one and she gets in some good snarky moments to people who get on her nerves, like a guy at her work who won’t stop not so discreetly asking her out on a date. There is a growing romantic relationship between Jamie and Marian that gives the movie unexpected sweetness. On the much meaner side is Feldstein as the ex who is exceptionally bitter about Jamie leaving, and she has great surly moments like when she is in jail and berating a prisoner about how they don’t need to see a lawyer.

What gets the “plot” rolling, such as it is, is when Jamie and Sukie talk to the head of the drive-away car delivery business, Curlie (Bill Camp), and he has some dryly comedic bits as a manager who is rather curt about the job of car delivery. It is the standard screwball comedic misunderstanding, the girls come in for a car travelling to Tallahassee Florida, so he gives it to them, thinking the girls were supposed to pick that car up. When the crooks show up to the shop, there’s a bit of violence when Coleman Domingo’s character gets to make some menacing speeches about what they wanted with the car. He also gets in a big scene where he explains what is in the case and has some very serious line deliveries about very silly things.

The movie follows the two goons trying to track down Jamie and Marian and Arlis talks his way through the situation while Flint tries to smash his way to answers. There’s a very funny bit when they arrive at Sukie’s apartment looking for Jamie and Flint tries to use physical violence, but Sukie turns the tables on him and immediately overpowers him, then Arlis casually chats to get answers. The duo constantly bicker throughout the movie, leading to a final showdown that makes darkly comedic sense. Curlie is beaten up and forgotten and there is a darkly funny moment when it seems like he is going to be saved but his salvation just leaves, leaving Curlie to proclaim of course he would be left behind.

The biggest actors in the film, Pascal and Damon and a weird surprise uncredited role by Miley Cyrus, are brief but important and they make the most of it. Pascal’s character opens the film as someone twitchy and clutching a briefcase like his life depends on it, and then he is attacked in a funny yet gory way. He just looks kind of funny being outrageously scared. Damon shows up near the end, trying to get a hold of the same briefcase, and his Senator tries to defend what is happening from a moral high ground which is transparently hypocritical. When the girls are trying to take him for money, he says, with a deep sadness, that he truly did believe in the good of a free market. What is in the case is unexpectedly hilarious. In an even briefer role, Cyrus shows up in trippy flashback scenes and she oozes weird vibes.

Even missing one of the Coen brothers, Drive-Away Dolls still feels like a film made by the duo. It is very fast in pacing, dialogue, and plot twists. The film is gleefully zany and messy which makes for an enjoyable, and admittedly trashy, romp.