| Drive-Away Dolls | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ethan Coen |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ari Wegner |
| Edited by | Tricia Cooke |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
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Production
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Release dates
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Running time
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84 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $6.8 million[3][4] |
Drive-Away Dolls (titled onscreen as Henry James' Drive-Away Dykes[5]) is a 2024 American comedy road film directed by Ethan Coen from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Tricia Cooke; they also produced the film with Robert Graf and Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. The film stars Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon.
Drive-Away Dolls was released in Australia on February 22, 2024, and in the United States by Focus Features the following day. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot[edit]
At a bar in Philadelphia in 1999, a man named Santos sits in a booth, nervously clutching a briefcase. He exits in a hurry and is followed by the bartender, who murders and decapitates him in an alley.
Elsewhere in Philadelphia, Jamie and Sukie are lovers whose relationship falls apart due to Jamie's infidelity. After Sukie kicks Jamie out of their apartment, Jamie learns that her friend Marian is planning a trip to Tallahassee, Florida, and decides to tag along. They head into a drive-away car service, where someone can transport a car one-way for another client. Due to a misunderstanding, they are given a car that someone else has already booked for a trip to Tallahassee.
Moments later, a trio of criminals—Arliss, Flint, and Chief—come to the shop to pick up the car headed to Tallahassee. They find that Jamie and Marian have taken it by accident, along with unspecified cargo that is part of their illegal dealings. While Marian wants to go straight to Tallahassee, Jamie constantly tries to convince Marian to loosen up by taking detours and trying to have casual sex at lesbian bars along the way. Marian prefers to read Henry James' The Europeans but slowly comes out of her shell due to Jamie's prodding. When the pair finally enter Florida, their car gets a flat tire. They open the trunk and find the briefcase Santos was holding and a basket containing Santos' head and a smoky white substance (likely dry ice or liquid nitrogen).
Jamie and Marian are followed by Arliss and Flint, who are led on a wild goose chase by a soccer team who had invited Jamie and Marian to a party. When Jamie and Marian check into a hotel using Jamie's credit card, the mob is tipped off to their location. Jamie convinces Marian that she needs to have a positive sexual experience to enjoy life more, and they have sex. The next morning, Arliss, Flint, and the Chief arrive in Tallahassee, while Jamie decides to use the contents of Santos' briefcase: a collection of dildos that were created from plaster casts of men's erect penises. Marian is shocked, but Jamie insists that she just wants the sexual release that Marian had the night before.
Immediately after Jamie climaxes, Arliss and Flint burst into their room, retrieve Santos' head and the briefcase, and abduct the women at gunpoint. In the backroom at a dog racing track, the Chief arrives to meet them all and explains that the sex toys are based on the genitals of powerful public figures, including one that was molded from Senator Channel's penis. Channel is fearful that his reputation will be ruined if anyone learns of the dildo, which Jamie had used earlier in the morning and subsequently left behind in the hotel room. After the gangsters have an argument that leads to Flint shooting the other two dead and running away, Jamie and Marian decide to blackmail Channel.
Sukie has also been en route to Tallahassee in her capacity as a police officer after Jamie tipped her off. Jamie and Marian meet Channel at a lesbian bar and give him the dildo in exchange for one million dollars. Sukie intercepts them as they exit and Channel turns back around to try and kill the women. Sukie shoots Channel. Channel survives, but his reputation is ruined when newspapers begin publishing articles about his criminal connections and the dildo collection.
The next day, Jamie and Marian meet with Marian's aunt at their hotel. Jamie casually mentions that she and Marian plan to go to Massachusetts, as same-sex marriage is legal there. As the trio drive away, a bellhop races to give them a bag that they have left behind, which contains two plaster casts Jamie had made of the dildo modeled after Channel's penis.