In the Dark Reviews

Minor spoiler to start: "Drive-Away Dolls," contrary to its mildly misleading trailer, is not set in the 21st century.

This matters because this period piece from 1999 is probably a golden mean between an absence of cellphones, whose presence would preclude most of this film's plot points, and a relative level of LGBTQ acceptance in society, which allows our lesbian protagonists to be careless over the course of their misadventures.

It also matters because "Drive-Away Dolls" represents a welcome throwback to the raunchy slob comedy subgenre of a pair of mismatched pals hitting the road and unintentionally getting mixed up in high-stakes quasi-criminal capers in which they're way out of their depth.

Unfortunately, far too many slob comedies from the 1970s and '80s are tainted, to varying degrees, by gratuitous dollops of misogyny and homophobia, but "Drive-Away Dolls" neatly avoids this by making lesbians our point-of-view protagonists, and having them take up the traditional archetypes of the masculine buddies of decades past.

Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) is well-read and responsible, but also lonely, socially stunted and dull, so we know that impulsive party animal Jamie (Margaret Qualley), who gets caught screwing around on her stern partner Sukie (Beanie Feldstein), will coax her pent-up pal out of her shell and get her laid.

There are shades of the supremely confident Ferris Bueller treating his neurotic best friend Cameron Poe to the much-needed "day off" that they share, but any fan of '80s films will spot similar pairings throughout the era, right down to Robert Rusler and Chris Makepeace's college roommate characters in 1986's "Vamp," starring Grace Jones.

In the wake of Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," mainstream media addressed the audience's desire for more "strong female characters" on a largely shallow surface level. At the risk of mansplaining equitable representation, what I don't see enough onscreen are female characters who are allowed to be goofy dorks and slightly sleazy reprobates, in ways that inspire sympathetic portrayals when it's dudes behaving as such.

I love that Jamie is given narrative permission to be a bit of a dim bulb and a scumbag, because everyone should be afforded the freedom to bask in the decadence of "Beavis and Butt-Head" levels of reprehensible idiocy, regardless of their gender or orientation.

At the same time, Jamie reveals herself to be much like an endearingly big, dumb dog, who causes chaos but mostly means well, which sets the stage for her clumsy attempts to do the right thing for Marian, playing into the well-worn but (in this instance, at least) decently staged trope of a deeper love lurking where our shortsighted characters least expect to find it.

As graphic as this film gets - and make no mistake, it is super-duper sexually explicit - its depictions of romantic affection feel entirely authentic, earnest and earned.

Our central couple and their grudging tagalong sidekick are far from the only notable features of "Drive-Away Dolls." It also spotlights Bill Camp's delightfully deadpan formality, Joey Slotnick as a hard-hitting henchman who's obsessed with ingratiating himself with the complete strangers he meets on the job, the elegant Colman Domingo lending a touch of class to perhaps the most deliberately absurd exposition in this film's proceedings, Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon amusing with what amount to walk-on cameos, and Miley Cyrus appearing in recurring hallucinogenic sequences that go on too long, but remain fun to take in anyway.

It definitely won't be to everyone's tastes, but "Drive-Away Dolls" was worth watching for me, to the point that I'd even be up for a sequel, which its teaser of an ending leaves it open for.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]