Jamie and Marian need a fresh start. One just broke up with her girlfriend, yet again, and the other desperately needs to loosen up. The two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, Florida. It all would have gone fine if it hadn’t been for the group of inept criminals they crossed paths with along the way.
Drive-Away Dolls is Ethan Cohen‘s latest film and debut as a solo director. He and his wife, Tricia Cooke, first pitched the idea for the film to their friend Allison Anders during a Christmas vacation in San Francisco in the early 2000s. The film was announced in January 2007 under the title Drive-Away Dykes, with Anders attached to direct. The project never came to see the light of day, but Cohen and Cooke had time to work on it again during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2023, the title was revealed to be Drive-Away Dolls, with Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo, Bill Camp and Matt Damon added to the cast, along with Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan, who play the two leading roles.
After a delay related to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA Strike, the film was released in February 2024. Drive-Away Dolls was projected to gross around $4 million from 2,261 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to only $2.4 million.
Review ★★★☆☆
A film can be caricatured, exaggerated and full of clichés, but still be intelligent and funny – But I’m a Cheerleader, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Big Lebowski… It’s a difficult balance to strike, however. Drive-Away Dolls would like to be on the same level as such comedies but falls short.
Not all the jokes work. A lot of this is down to the delivery of the actors and actresses, who sometimes overact, sometimes underplay their lines. The exception is Geraldine Viswanathan, who plays her role to perfection.
The film is also very short, leaving audiences -including this critic- a bit underwhelmed. This leaves the impression of a short film: headliners such as Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon are reduced to borderline cameo roles. Yet there’s no point in making the film any longer: in the end, there’s not much going on.
But if the movie has its flaws, it’s not an unpleasant experience. It’s an admittedly shaky comedy, but light and fun if you like the genre.
CREDITS: Malena Cortizo A.
