Drive-Away Dolls, a film by Ethan Coen in his solo directorial debut, has a bizarre setup with tons of weird moving parts and, unfortunately, a plot that is not executed properly. It tries to be funny and clever, but neither element comes through in the film’s writing or structure. It’s also supposed to be suspenseful with laughter, but it devolves into turmoil, and the dynamics among the characters is simply a mess.

Drive-Away Dolls focuses on a girl named Jamie, played by Margaret Qualley. Jamie is lesbian and she is getting over a break-up with a girlfriend. She feels the need for an escape, and she gets together with her friend Marian, played by Geraldine Viswanathan, to make that happen. Jamie is more of the party-type and is into voyeurism, while Marian is a lot more introverted. Jamie is about finding sex parties with other women, and she wants Marian to join her. They sign up for a “drive-away” car service to take a client’s car to Tallahassee, but they get the wrong car. Unbeknownst to Jamie and Marian the car they’re driving has a briefcase in the trunk containing some “valuable” items, and this mistake puts them in the path of many criminals, including Arliss (played by Joey Slotnick) and Flint (played by C.J. Wilson), and a criminal boss known as “The Chief” (played by Colman Domingo). There is also a character named Gary Channel (played by Matt Damon), who is a United States senator.

There actually are many suspenseful moments in Drive-Away Dolls, and many that have the potential to be hysterical if done properly, but the film is just dreadfully written. Like other Coen films, its pacing is dark and narrative has cues for laughter. But this one is a blur, and the laughs never come. 

The film is set in 1999, a year when I was a young man, and it did have me thinking about good times back in the day. I felt that the film was spot on in picking up the social vibes of that time. But not much else was executed well. The film attempts to be funny with its explicit sexual moments. These scenes are not necessarily offensive, but the context of the film is undefined and much of the premise made no sense, including the road trip, the ridiculous items that were supposed to be of such value, and criminals who seemed to not have a clue what they are doing. Although I’ll admit that the many absent-minded characters may be the only mildly entertaining aspect of the film.

Drive-Away Dolls is a suspense film with no thrills, and it has a foundation and dynamics that are pure confusion. There were a number of what I would call “Coen moments”, but the writing on this one is completely out of focus. The setting of 1999 adds some interest, but not much class, and at times seems to actually add to the confusion. Is Drive-Away Dolls supposed to be a love story, or an escape story? I couldn’t tell. There may have been times to laugh in the film, but it was too disorganized to know when those times were. I did find many moments, however, where I was wondering whether the film was worthy of my time. Two out four stars for Drive-Away Dolls.