Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 17, 2024)
After 35 years together as arguably the most lauded directorial pair in cinematic history, Joel and Ethan Coen took a break from each other. In 2021, Joel made his solo debut with the well-regarded Shakespearean update The Tragedy of MacBeth.
On the other hand, Ethan went for something more comedic and tongue in cheek. 2024’s Drive-Away Dolls offers a semi-“grindhouse” effort.
Set in 1999, uptight Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) plans a trip to visit her aunt in Florida. Recently dumped by her girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) due to infidelity, her pal Jamie (Margaret Qualley) proposes a road trip, partly because Jamie hopes to get her sexually oppressed friend to loosen up along the way.
They get a vehicle through a “drive-away” service, one that furnishes them with a car that someone needs delivered to a specific location. However, they accidentally end up with a ride meant for some underworld types, and when Marian and Jamie don’t get to Tallahassee as quickly as desired, the goons set out to track them.
Does Dolls need to take place in 1999? No, but this feels like a choice intended to echo that time period.
In particular, Dolls gives off an impression it wants to resemble a film made in the late 90s. Expect a pretty heavy Tarantinp vibe that embraces the period’s glib irony.
Of course, the Coens made movies in that vein themselves, so I probably shouldn’t paint Dolls as some obvious Tarantino wannabe. Still, the main “plot” feels like enough of a riff on Pulp Fiction to give me that QT impression.
Not that Fiction focused on sex to anywhere close to the degree of Dolls, though. Indeed, at times the movie feels like it exists mainly as an attempt to get lesbian canoodling in front of mainstream audiences.
Which seems fine, as there’s no reason lesbian eroticism shouldn’t enjoy as much play as hetero material. However, Dolls plays up this element in such an explicit way that it feels contrived.
Perhaps none of this would register if Dolls came across as a more coherent and compelling tale. Essentially a mix of Pulp Fiction and a “coming of age” story, the end result sputters.
Dolls thinks it's a lot funnier and more clever than it is. I might’ve chuckled lightly 2-3 times, but that became the extent of my amusement – and virtually all of the laughs come from Bill Camp’s deadpan performance as drive-away proprietor Curlie.
Instead, I found a mess of a story that revolves around various episodes without coherence. We get plenty of pointless scenes that drag an already nearly non-existent narrative to a crawl.
Boy, does Dolls stretch to fill its brief running time. Even at a mere 84 minutes, the movie comes across as padded.
Dolls hopes to keep us involved with a mix of celebrity cameos. I’ll keep those a secret, but Coen uses his long-established connections to bring a few big names into the fold.
These feel desperate, as if Coen knew Dolls lacked substance and hoped the famous faces would distract viewers from the inherently thin nature of the film. This doesn’t work.
Instead, Dolls winds up as a meandering and tedious mix of off-kilter romance and comedy. Not much about it succeeds.
