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Drive Away Dolls Starring Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein • Sam North Road Movie on Diversion

It's a Coen Brother movie, as Joel has stepped away from the partnership and been substituted by Ethan's wife Tricia Cooke who wrote this screenplay around 25 years ago. Maybe 25 years ago you couldn't get a movie then called 'Drive Away Dykes' made.

It's a very formulaic Coen Brothers movie however. Two gay females seeking a fresh start take a Drive Away car to Tallahassee, Florida. Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is a very free spirit just recovering from a break-up and Marian, (Geraldine Viswanathan) is shy and bored. What they don't know is that the bad guys (who have just beaten up a specialist dealer to death) have, for some reason, put their precious cargo in the trunk of this particular drive away car. The bad guys are a pastiche of all Coen Brother bad guys, incompetent and argumentative as they give chase to track down their vehicle.

Jamie is all for diversions on the way and sexual adventures, Marian just wants to get to Tallahassee.
Naturally things go wrong and when they get a flat tire, they are going to find more than a spare tire in the trunk. (I'm sure there wasn't even a tire in there now I think about it.)

I was in need a comedy. I'll always treasure the manic 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' - Drive Away Dolls should have been full of laughs but the cinema remained silent throughout. Maybe people were uncomfortable with the 'free spirit' but it just wasn't particually funny. The girls were a nice contrast and you quickly warmed to them, but you could predict every move this story took. The best thing was hearing a crystal clear Blue Bayou again by Linda Ronstadt.

As for Matt Damon, well I'm sure he had fun at least.

© Sam North - 3.20.24
author Another Place to Die: The Endtime Chronicles

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