Drive-Away Dolls marks Ethan Coen’s first solo feature film. Born in Minnesota‚ together the Coen brothers have crafted a diverse and critically acclaimed body of work since their debut feature‚ “Blood Simple‚” in 1984. With a unique blend of dark humor‚ sharp dialogue‚ and a penchant for exploring the eccentricities of human nature‚ the Coen Brothers have left an indelible mark on cinema. Their filmography includes iconic works such as “Fargo‚” “The Big Lebowski‚” and “No Country for Old Men‚” which earned them Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. The Coen Brothers consistently challenge cinematic conventions‚ creating a legacy that reflects their artistic innovation and narrative prowess in the world of filmmaking. Drive-Away Dolls When Jamie’s girlfriend throws her out for cheating‚ Jamie and her mousey friend Marian decide to go on a road trip to Tallahassee for a fresh start. Too bad for them that they took the way wrong car. Now‚ the two will have to deal not only with Jamie’s complete lack of self-awareness and inhibition but also with the mysterious and violent men bent on retrieving some very special packages hidden in the ladies’ vehicle. If you were ever curious which of the Coen Brothers was the talented one‚ Drive-Away Dolls doesn’t help Ethan Coen’s case. Dolls is a slow-paced slog that inexpertly moves from one scene to the next as its two leads babble banal dialogue that vacillates between humorless attempts at humor and shallow attempts at depth; all brought together with underdeveloped supporting characters and a plot that had to have been conceived of while stoned. Andie MacDowell’s daughter‚ Margaret Qualley‚ plays Jaime‚ the free-spirited lesbian with a sex drive as over the top as her cartoonish southern accent and hammy performance. It’s a testament to the difference good material and a quality director with vision make when comparing Qualley in this embarrassment to her turn as Pussycat in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. It’s not that Qualley is bad so much as her character‚ much like the rest of the film‚ is poorly written with a meaningless point of view that writers Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke manually churn like butter into every line of dialogue as they fumble from one scene to the next. The rest of the cast doesn’t fare much better. The villains are underdeveloped goons with no chemistry and so little screentime as to easily be forgotten between scenes‚ and there are coffee mugs more interesting than the character arc of Qualley’s costar Geraldine Viswanathan’s‚ Marian. In a film this bad‚ it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where Drive-Away Dolls fails hardest. However‚ it lacks the polish that’s synonymous with Coen Brother’s films. Instead‚ it feels like a half-baked‚ underdeveloped attempt at making a lesbian propaganda film in a poor approximation of a Coen Brothers’ film. It’s far more interested in extolling the wonders of sapphic love than it is with storytelling and spends large chunks of time its 1h 24m runtime doesn’t have devoted to overlong and sometimes graphic lesbian sex scenes (not the hot kind) while ignoring things like plot and character development or quality dialogue‚ or even style. Ultimately‚ Drive-Away Dolls is an embarrassingly bad film that will likely be praised for its “bravery” but is better left unwatched and forgotten. If this is the best that Ethan Coen has to offer‚ he should hold onto his brother’s coattails like grim death.   WOKE ELEMENTS Drive-Away Dolls is a 1h 24m LGBTQRSTUV celebration barely couched in the trappings of a film. The post Drive-Away Dolls first appeared on Worth It or Woke.