A big cargo trip
15 ★★★ In cinemas now
Two heads are better than one when it comes to brothers Ethan and Joel Coen. As a filmmaking tag team, who first traded in deliciously dark humour 40 years ago with crime thriller Blood Simple, the siblings have jointly filled their trophy cabinets with four Academy Awards and a coveted BAFTA mask.
Ethan’s first narrative feature without his sibling is a fun but emotionally lightweight joyride co-written by his wife Tricia Cooke, who identifies as queer and drew inspiration from her experiences of the 1990s’ lesbian scene. Genitalia jokes abound in a riotous romp that shrouds itself in
LGBTQ+ joy punctuated by the kind of zany twists and turns we have come to expect from one of the creative dynamos responsible for No Country For Old Men and Fargo.
Humour is unapologetically filthy-minded and it’s impossible not to be smitten with the southern drawl and devil-may-care attitude of Margaret Qualley’s free spirit Jamie, whose carefree approach to fidelity generates friction with her dutiful girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein).
A Florida road trip with sexually restrained best friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) should provide Jamie with an escape from these relationship woes. However, the cross-country jaunt spirals out of control when the “dolls” pick up their rental car, blissfully unaware the vehicle is intended for a criminal gang who have stowed some precious cargo in the trunk.
The experience of watching Drive-away Dolls is akin to being trapped inside a pinball machine, bombarded by flashing lights and retina-searing colours as you bounce around Jamie and Marian’s misadventures without sufficient time to become fully invested in their madcap odyssey.
Wilful eccentricity recalls The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading without their emotional gravitas.
Coen puts the pedal to the metal but he can’t find top gear.
‘‘ It’s like being trapped inside a pinball machine with retina-searing bright colours