Drive-Away Dolls Review

 

Drive-Away Dolls is a comedy road movie, that's produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Focus Features. Drive-Away Dolls is written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke and directed by Ethan Coen.

The story is, two friends want a fresh start and go on an impromptu road trip. Things seem normal at first, but then the trip go awry when they unintentionally cross paths with a group of inept criminals.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to see this was because of Ethan Coen. He's done amazing films with his brother Joel, and Joel did great with his solo film. So I was wondering what Ethan was gonna bring.

Cons

My only true issue with the movie was it felt like it was playing everything too safe. Maybe it's just from my point of view, so you'll rightfully not agree, but it seems like the writers wanted to make an outrageous comedy, put they did pull back some punches. Cause it was pretty tame for a rated R movie. Yeah sure we still got graphic sex and a little bit of violence, but dialogue wise, nothing really all that shocking.

Middle Ground

There's three gray areas when it comes to Drive-Away Dolls, one of those was editing. Now don't get it twisted, this is still a well crafted edited movie. But there was some odd things, mainly the 70's psychedelic transitions. Those didn't have any context until the end of the movie, so for the most part you're just confused as to why they're here. Then there's the humor. I did have quite a few good laughs, mainly when two henchmen were arguing, but sometimes the humor didn't work. Which brings me to the characters. While entertaining and have they're own stories, I'll admit I'm probably not gonna remember them. Okay, maybe the faces, but for the names themselves, no.

Pros

There are two good things. One being the pacing. The movie is a perfect quick breeze to get through and doesn't waste one single minute. Then there's Ethan's directing. Even if the story wasn't up to par, at least his style was also something to enjoy.

While I wasn't completely disappointed with Drive-Away Dolls, I'll admit I don't see myself watching this again in the near future.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Feb 26th, for part two of Looking Back at the Films of 2023. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.