3.5 stars out of 5
“Does anybody remember laughter?” as Mr. Plant once asked. The comedy film, once a reliable staple of the multiplex, has become nearly extinct. Sure, there are humorous elements in the increasingly crummy Marvel movies, and there are rom-coms but they more rom than com. For those of us who truly crave the funny, it’s become slim pickings.
So sure, one Coen brother is better than none.
And that’s what we get in Drive-Away Dolls, written by Ethan Coen and his spouse Tricia Cooke, and directed by Ethan. While brother Joel and his wife Frances McDormand went the high-brow route with the superb Tragedy of MacBeth, Ethan sets his sights on goofy fun… and succeeds.
The plot is (blood) simple: Jamie (the ever delightful Margaret Qualley) and her uptight pal Marian (a very good Geraldine Viswanathan) take a drive-away car (one-way free rental) from Philly to Tallahassee, just for a head-clearing road trip. Trouble is, two goons were supposed to take that same car to Tallahassee, due to an initially-MacGuffin suitcase in the trunk. So the goons set off in hot pursuit, meanwhile Jamie and Marian discover the shocking contents of their trunk, and zany hijinks ensue.
There is not much more to this movie and that is OK — because it’s a comedy! And there are some very big laughs along the way. It’s a lesbian story (title was intended to be Drive-Away Dykes) but not for any heavy political reasons; it just helps along the liberals-in-a-conservative-setting scenario. Joey Slotnick is especially funny as the more sensitive of the two goons. Beanie Feldstein gets some solid scenes as Jamie’s resentful ex. Bill Camp, owner of the drive-away business, is a classic Coen character. And you can’t go wrong with a Matt Damon cameo.
Word on the street is that the Coen brothers are working together again soon, and of course I look forward to that. In the meantime, Drive-Away Dolls is a fun, funny, sexy road movie that will keep you smiling for an hour and a half.
being underrated is overrated
Jack Silbert, curator