The title of Ethan Coen’s leaden romp “Drive-Away Dolls” summons up the vulgar excesses of old-school exploitation cinema, with its horrors and pleasures, carnage and flesh.
This is the most recent movie that Ethan Coen has made without his brother, Joel, his longtime collaborator.
(Ethan also made the 2022 documentary “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind.”) To a degree, “Drive-Away Dolls” seems of a piece with the Coens’ practice of playing with story forms (film genres and otherwise), which they have consistently satirized, upended and all but gutted.
Written by Coen and his wife, Tricia Cooke, “Drive-Away Dolls” opens on an old-style neon bar sign spelling out the word “Cicero,” immediately suggesting that you’re in familiar Coen territory.
After some character introductions — enter Jamie, Marian et.
Persons:
Ethan Coen’s, —, Margaret Qualley, Jamie, Geraldine Viswanathan, Marian —, Ethan Coen, Joel, Ethan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Coen, Tricia Cooke, “, Cicero, ”, Pedro Pascal, Marian et, Bill Camp, Marian’s, Beanie Feldstein, Marian
Locations:
Philadelphia, Florida, Tallahassee