{"id":28054,"date":"2024-02-23T15:55:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T23:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28054"},"modified":"2024-02-23T15:55:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T23:55:27","slug":"drive-away-dolls-is-a-diverting-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28054","title":{"rendered":"DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS is a Diverting Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 84 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Focus Features will be playing exclusively\nat cinemas starting February 23rd<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of their careers, the Coen Brothers have\nbeen making movies together and enjoying incredible success with titles like Raising\nArizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men<\/em> and The Ballad\nof Buster Scruggs<\/em> (among many other cinematic ventures). But over the past\nyear or two, each has decided to tackle projects on their own. Ethan Coen\nhelmed the Shakespeare adaptation The Tragedy of Macbeth<\/em> a few years\nback, and now Joel is presenting a quirky comedy called Drive-Away Dolls<\/em>,\nwhich he also co-wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tale follows Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), a stuffy\nbut shy young woman who has difficulty making friends at work. Still, she does\nhave a few associates whom she spends time with at a local gay bar. One of\nthose is acquaintance Jamie (Margaret Qualley), a free spirit always looking\nfor a good time. Marian reveals to her that she\u2019s planning a trip to\nTallahassee, Florida using a driveaway vehicle. After her girlfriend and police\nofficer Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) discovers Jamie\u2019s cheating ways, the panicked\nbetrayer begs Marian to include her on the trip. Unfortunately, the two women\nare accidentally given a vehicle containing a hidden briefcase and package. A\nman known as The Chief (Colman Domingo) wants these items at any cost and sends\nhis two henchmen Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J. Wilson) to track down\nthe car. Things get complicated for all parties when Jamie continues taking\nMarian off route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the film revolves around two very different pairs of\ncharacters getting into comic arguments about their lives and personalities on\nthe road. Jamie is determined to help Marian loosen up, although it\u2019s really\njust an excuse to get herself in the company of potential romantic partners.\nHer cohort is the other extreme, frequently showing disdain for her pal\u2019s\nrandom choices and anyone\u2019s improper use of the English language. Their\nbickering doesn\u2019t always result in hysterics, but there are some amusing\nobservations and comments that earn chuckles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Viewers also spend a fair amount of time with the goons,\nboth of whom have very different approaches to their work. One is chatty and\ntries to eke information out through pleasantries and conversation, while the\nother is quiet, blunt and threatening. Bored and driving endlessly on a\ngoose-chase through the backroads, they get on each other’s nerves as the\nchattier figure attempts to assert why his technique is more effective. Their\nconversations with The Chief and random individuals during their quest also earn\na few laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is something of a minor issue to the entire film,\nit may be that the protagonists leave on their driving odyssey and are never\nactually aware of being in any danger through the majority of the running time.\nEven though their pursuers do commit a very violent act early on, the hoods\ndon\u2019t exactly come off as the most competent or dangerous threat, often being\nsent in the wrong directions by random strangers. Because of this, there is a\nreal lack of tension during much of the proceedings and the movie has to coast\na bit on the charm of its leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully, the cast are likable and events take a more\nurgent tone during the final act when the secret of what the briefcase contains\nis revealed. All of the bizarre bits involving this plot device are very funny\nand even feature welcome guest appearances from the likes of Pedro Pascal and\nMatt Damon. It is a completely unexpected disclosure that leads to a hilarious\nspeech from one of the characters trying to elicit sympathy from the leads over\nthe trials they have experienced as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie runs very short, which is probably a plus as the\nsimple, exaggerated characters and emphasis on wild gags wouldn\u2019t lend itself\nto an extended running time. Admittedly, the movie isn\u2019t as brilliant as the\nbest films from both Coen Brothers (who will be reteaming to work on more\nprojects together), but the cast pull every laugh they can out of the material\nand the film delivers a couple of very memorable moments. Drive-Away Dolls<\/em>\nisn\u2019t the ride of your life, but it is a reasonably diverting trip. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 84 minutes This film from Focus Features will be playing exclusively at cinemas starting February 23rd. Since the beginning of their careers, the Coen Brothers have been making movies together and enjoying incredible success with titles like Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men and The Ballad of Buster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,2397,4628,4660,6288,6289,6290,6291,7089,8212,10808,13189,13424,15884],"class_list":["post-28054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-beanie-feldstein","tag-colman-domingo","tag-comedy","tag-drive-away-dolls","tag-drive-away-dolls-film-review","tag-drive-away-dolls-movie-review","tag-drive-away-dolls-review","tag-ethan-coen","tag-geraldine-viswanathan","tag-joey-slotnick","tag-margaret-qualley","tag-matt-damon","tag-pedro-pascal"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}