Rating: 3/5
The queer dream of the 90s is alive and fucking in Drive-Away Dikes — the actual title, revealed at the end of the movie.
Philadelphia, 1999
Jamie (Margaret Qualley) has the incurable itch of needing to fuck anyone willing. Her girlfriend, Sukie (Beanie Feldstein), is less than thrilled about it. Sukie ends the relationship and kicks Jamie out of the apartment.
Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) has found little luck in love. She hasn’t had sex since the Nader presidential campaign. She plans a trip to Tallahassee, Florida, to visit her aunt Marian. Jamie tags along, whether Marian likes it or not.
They go to a drive-away car service for one-way car transportation. The service owner, Curly, mixes up bookings, and the two end up with another client’s car. In the trunk is valuable cargo. The original clients will do whatever it takes to get it back.
If you told me that the Farrelly brothers directed this movie, I would believe you. But no, this is one half of the Coen brothers, Ethan Coen, directing his first film without Joel. And boy, does it show.
For all the wackiness found in a Coen brothers comedy, it also showed SOME restraint. Here, we have an id without a superego — a horny, sloppy road movie that’s more fun in theory. Think Russ Meyer with more than one thing on his mind.
Margaret Qualley’s choice of accent comes straight out of Raising Arizona — a Southern that gets pinned to Texas but belongs only to theater majors. It’s a lot to take for the first act. Once things start, it gets easier to handle.
Geraldine Viswanathan doesn’t get much to do besides be a party pooper, but she gets some hot-and-heavy scenes that allow her to break out.
The movie drops out of the story for brief psychedelic trips a la The Big Lebowski — they’re uninspired but still better than the psych-out scenes from Infinity Pool.
That said, the movie is both funny and horny. For all its flaws, it’s nice to see a film where feminine desire is the primary driving force behind the story.
Let’s hope the brothers reconcile or learn to make movies without the other’s ethos.