Drive-Away Dolls – lots of heart, soul and pleasure as two friends head south on a road-trip that will change everything (from Friday 15 March)

On the back of a bad breakup, extrovert Jamie joins her more introverted friend Marian on a one-way hire car journey from Philadelphia to Tallahassee in Florida. Due to a misunderstanding, the girls drive away in a car that was intended to be picked by a more criminally minded pair. And so begins a game of cat and mouse down the east coast of the United States, as a couple of violent goons try to recover the ‘gear’ hidden in the boot of the titular Drive-Away Dolls.

Jamie (played by Margaret Qualley) has an opinion about everything and isn’t behind the bush about sharing them. Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) is much more reserved. Her sexuality to date is more intellectual than physical, but Jamie proposes some stop-offs as the pair head south to give Marian the opportunity to take things further. Needless to say, Marian’s quest for authenticity jars with Jamie’s need for experience … right up until the friendship is fundamentally reset.

Expect comedy beatings, comedy dildos, a comedy dog, incompetent thugs, psychedelic pizza, and the reading of Henry James’ The Europeans.

What works is the film’s sense of humour. Director Ethan Coen (and co-screenwriter Tricia Cooke) allow the characters to have tremendous fun with the simple premise. While there’s plenty of intentionally lecturing dialogue, there are quips that leap off the screen, and even I was provoked to laugh out loud. It’s hard not to fall in love with the lesbian roadtrippers who are full of hope and brio.

What doesn’t work so well are the interstitial dream sequences, half of which contribute to the backstory or inner thinking of the main characters, while the remainder distracted and bemused me in equal measure. The 84-minute run time is laudably short, but the story nearly trips over itself in its hurry to get to the end, wrapping up far too quickly and much too neatly.

While there’s strong language, strong sex and a bit of nudity, there’s also a lot of heart, soul and pleasure in this four-wheeled caper. Drive-Away Dolls opens in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday 15 March.

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