Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

February 25, 2024 11:42 AM

[TRAILER] This caper follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.

Also starring Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, Matt Damon, Joey Slotnick, C.J. Wilson, Connie Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Annie Gonzalez, Abby Hilden, Josh Flitter.

Directed by Ethan Coen. Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. Produced by Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke, Robert Graf, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner for Working Title/Focus Features. Cinematography by Ari Wegner. Edited by Tricia Cooke. Music by Carter Burwell.

65% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now playing in theaters. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (5 comments total)

This is kinda slight, but 100% fun. At only 84 minutes long and with this cast, the various points where it's uneven or not that thematically ambitious are pretty easily forgivable.

I say it's slight and it is, but the movie isn't about nothing. It telegraphs its themes about how we approach and interact with people we don't know and may not have much in common with by having Marian read The Europeans by Henry James. But I would tend to consider this a color on their pallette they fucked around with, more than a deep underlying thematic framework.

Mostly, this is silly, horny, fast-paced goofiness from a talented team. And I was here for it. I cannot say enough good things about the tight, fast-paced editing and how it kept things afloat.

NORMALIZE EIGHTYSOMETHING MINUTE FEATURES.

I've seen Margaret Qualley in various things and always thought she was good, but didn't know much about her. When I heard her (hilarious, spot-on) accent in this movie, I had to look her up. And while it's certainly true the accent she uses may have been something she got from growing up in Montana and North Carolina or via study, my money is that the accent can be explained very simply as her mother's accent, as delivered through a brash oddball lesbian. Qualley's mother, it turns out, is Andie MacDowell.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:49 AM on February 25 [8 favorites]

I'm very excited to see this and probably won't get to for another week or so (by which time I really hope it's still at my local theatre.)
posted by Navelgazer at 12:54 PM on February 25 [1 favorite]

Oh and I kind of failed to emphasize because I am old cishet guy and I forget how good of news this can be, but let it also be noted that this is super duper gay. Very lesbian-focused. Not even just the characters or the sex. It's also for the way that Margaret Qualley's character has sort of mentally fast-forwarded into an era where a lesbian can do things like confidently go up to an elderly man in a rural motel and ask for directions to the nearest lesbian bar. It would just never occur to her character to have anyone else's hangups about who she is or what she does alter anything at all about how she conducts her day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:05 PM on February 25 [3 favorites]

I know someone who's a Qualley fan, and it was fun to consider the caveats to give. I'm thinking, "more violence and sex than I was expecting. Don't watch it with family." The friend I watched with thought "uneven" was the best description. We both wondered if there would be a clarifying note in Wikipedia about how old the soccer players were: as I write, not yet.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:54 PM on February 25

I was a bit disappointed and confused, but want to double down on this:

NORMALIZE EIGHTYSOMETHING MINUTE FEATURES.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:13 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]