Warning: mild spoilers ahead
BY SCARLETT COUGHLAN, IMAGE BY FOCUS FEATURES
If you’ve ever wanted to see Margaret Qualley channelling her inner masc (who hasn’t?), you’re in luck. Drive-Away Dolls, the first of a lesbian B-roll trilogy from queer director Trisha Cooke and husband Ethan Coen, stars our favourite Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actor as a serial heartbreaker who gets mixed up in crime – and romance – with Blockers’ Geraldine Viswanathan.
The film follows Jamie (Margaret), who has broken up with yet another girlfriend (Beanie Feldstein) and decides to join her demure friend Marian (Geraldine) on a road trip to Tallahassee. While Jamie needs to get away from it all, Marian really just needs to get laid, having been out of action since her own breakup three years prior.
Set at the turn of the century, the friends head off in their rented motor – on which, to Marian’s dismay, free-spirited Jamie has graffitied with the words “Love is a sleigh ride to Hell” – before discovering a mysterious package belonging to some inept criminals in the boot. As the gang trace them down, Jamie enjoys snogging every lesbian she sees, while Marian tries to figure out what she wants in her own love life.
Packed with lesbian dive bars, entire female soccer teams making out in rotation, and more dildos than you can possibly imagine (dildos fixed to walls, DIY dildos, dildos with bows on them…), the movie succeeds in not taking itself too seriously. A far cry from the “mopey” lesbian movie that Trisha and Ethan so desperately wanted to avoid. Drive-Away Dolls is the queer comedy we’ve all been waiting for.
While some of the hilarity lies in the film’s outrageous and exaggerated sapphic encounters, it succeeds in its depictions of realistic and loving lesbian sex – and, most importantly, makes it clear (even to the untrained eye) which are which. We also get a teaser of Jamie taking off her signature vest and, while the camera angles remain modest, we can assure you, you won’t forget that scene in a heartbeat.
The film takes viewers right back to Marian’s sexual awakening. Involving a peephole between the young character’s garden and that of an ample-breasted neighbour who sunbathes in nothing but cowboy boots, the scene normalises the first inklings of same-sex attraction that so many of us endured confused and ashamed behind closed doors.
And, while sex lies loud and proud at the forefront of the comedy, Drive-Away Dolls hints at important developments for the lesbian community, from small wins like unashamedly kissing in public, to significant historical events like the 2004 San Francisco Same-Sex Weddings.
On top of that, the Trisha-Ethan comedy features stars like Miley Cyrus, Colman Domingo and “the internet’s daddy” Pedro Pascal. Drive-Away Dolls really has got it all. Packed into just 84 minutes, this drive to Tallahassee is the trip of a lifetime that leaves you wanting more.
Drive-Away Dolls will be released in UK cinemas on 15 March.
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