Review: Drive-Away Dolls

Drive-Away Dolls is a road movie where two lesbians take a drive-away car down to Florida, only to discover it's the wrong car and some crooks want it back. Stars Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan, with guest appearances from Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Miley Cyrus. Directed by Ethan Coen (The Big Lebowski) and his editor wife Tricia Cooke.It's one of the great romantic comedy cliches - two on the run, one serious and uptight, the other a lovable loose unit. Not just romances of course. Odd couples have worked in films as diverse as Midnight Run, Thelma and Louise, The Green Book and even Star Wars in a certain light.But it works best in a romance, particularly a screwball comedy romance like Drive-Away Dolls.Mind you, this isn't your standard 1930s Hollywood screwball comedy. The first thing you notice - literally - is apparently graphic lesbian sex. Though it doesn't show quite as much as you think, thanks to expert directing and editing by expert husband and wife directors and editors Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke.Meet Jamie - played by delightfully screwball Margaret Qualley - who we pick up at a lesbian bar, getting a bit sick of the screwball life. She'd arranged to meet her uptight best friend Marian there - Geraldine Viswanath, who I didn't know, but can't wait to see again in something else.We need to get them on the road, which happens when Jamie tells Marian the cheap way to get down to Florida. Pick up a Drive-Away car from a place like Curlie's. But there's a twist - of course there is. They accidentally pick up the wrong car - a car that had been booked by a trio of incompetent Coen Brothers goons to carry a Mysterious Package to a Mysterious Client. Jamie and Marian, happily unaware in their Drive-Away car, head off to Florida, while the three goons look for information about the girls from their friends.Including Suki the angry cop - played by Booksmart's Beanie Feldstein.One mark of a Coen movie - albeit technically half a Coen movie since brother Joel isn't involved in Drive-Away Dolls - is expert writing. There's not an unnecessary word in the film. Another mark is terrific casting - a dynamite blend of great new faces and bit parts from the likes of Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Miley Cyrus as a hippie plaster caster.But this is also a Tricia Cooke movie. She edited many of the Coen brothers' best movies but more to the point, she's set out to make a full-on lesbian movie that is neither too serious nor earnestly mopey. It's absolutely hilarious, with nods to the flat-out comedies of Ethan Coen's past, but also their screwball forerunners. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details