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‘DRIVE AWAY DOLLS’ A Perplexing Lesbian Road Trip Caper From One Half of the Coen Bros 

A pair of odd couple lesbians head to Tallahassee in Ethan Coen’s (of the Coen brothers) bizarre comedy caper, Drive Away Dolls. Each looking for a fresh start, Jaime (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) form an unlikely pair. One is a fast-talkin’, easy-lovin’ free spirit. The other is an over-thinking, uptight introvert. But their friendship persists through their differences and after a breakup and professional stall-out the duo journey south in a “drive away” car, a service that allows renters to transports vehicles across state lines. One case of mistaken identity and a drive away car mix-up later, the pair realize they are transporting a valuable case of personal effects hidden in the car’s boot. A couple of inept goons are hot on their tail as their road trip takes them to various gay bars, touristy pit stops, and run-ins with the law in what can only be described as a bizarre herky-jerky pre-Y2K slapstick attempt. It’s at once perplexing, engaging, annoying, and utterly sloppy, and really serves to highlight just how much the Coen Brothers need one another as collaborators.   Read More

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Out in Theaters: ‘THE NIGHT BEFORE’

Mix one part holiday sentiment, two parts 21st century bromance and a healthy teaspoon of bath salts and you’ll have cooked up Jonathan Levine‘s latest comedic vision quest. The Night Before is packaged as a drug-fueled Christmas romp starring such likable actors as Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and works from a script from Levine and frequent Rogen collaborator Evan Goldberg. When the formulaic cocktail of easy chemistry and easier laughs is working, The Night Before is funny bone-shaking good, a zesty melange of manic humor, gross out gags and breezy charisma. At one too many of its Santa’s sleigh stops though, the bromance is invaded by bromides, making for an uneven and inconsistent holiday farce with uncomfortably obvious pacing problems. But, being a comedy, the essential question really boils down to: is The Night Before funny? Read More