Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Drive-Away Dolls is madcap road trip comedy about two women traveling from Philidelphia to Tallahassee.
It’s Philadelphia, 1999. Santos (Pedro Pascal) is sitting in a booth nervously clutching a briefcase. When he gets up to leave, his waiter follows, then chases him down a dark alley and decapitates him.
The film then cuts to Jamie (Margaret Qualley), whose girlfriend dumped her because of her cheating ways. With no place to go, she turns to her sexually repressed best friend, Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), to find a place to live. But Marian can’t help her because she’s getting ready to go to Tallahassee, Florida. Unable to take no for an answer, Jamie decides to tag along and convinces Marian to use a drive-away service, which allows a person to transport a car to a single destination.
They go to a local business and ask if they have a car that needs to go to Tallahassee. The owner, Curlie (Bill Camp), who was told that two people would be coming in for a recently dropped off Dodge Aries that needs to go to Tallahassee, assumes Jamie and Marian are them and gives them the car.
After Jamie and Marian leave, Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C. J. Wilson) arrive looking for the Dodge Ares that their boss, Chief (Colman Domingo), reserved for them. When they find out that the car was given to Jamie and Marian, they call Chief, who orders them to go to the destination to pick up the car before Jamie and Marion discover the stolen briefcase in the trunk.
What follows is a madcap comedy about two women being chased by criminals.
Some Thoughts:
Drive-Away Dolls has a fine group of actors who know what they’re doing and a story that sounds more promising than it is. It has a very sex positive attitude and is filled with female empowerment and comradery. Everything comes together fairly well until we find out what’s in the briefcase, which is a major letdown.
The biggest problem I have with the movie is the comedy, which is a bit juvenile for a film clearly made for adults. Since the plot deals with sexual freedom and community, such childish jokes feel a bit off. Instead of finding humor in lesbian culture, it pokes fun at dildos and bumbling crooks. While it does show a diverse group of women, it never explores their culture to find amusement. Instead, it relies on base jokes designed those who titter at sex.
Also, once Jamie and Marian find the briefcase and open it, the movie falls apart and becomes one never ending joke about its contents. Since I don’t want to give anything away, I have to leave it here. Just know that I found the pivotal scene anti-climactic and unamusing.
The Final Verdict:
Drive-Away Dolls is a comedy about two women being chased by criminals that falls apart at the halfway mark. The script lacks insight and the lowbrow humor makes it feel trite.