The Odd Couples of “Drive-Away Dolls”

Three sets of couples intersect in Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls. The first is the film’s main duo: Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), two lesbian roommates and eventual lovers so eager to escape their lives in Pittsburgh, circa 1999, that they take on a job to drive a car from western Pennsylvania to Tallahassee, Florida. But the pair are accidentally given a car loaded with illicit cargo that was reserved for hired goons also headed to Tallahassee. Jamie and Marian are none the wiser about their unintentional involvement in a criminal conspiracy, at least for a while. As the henchmen race to track them down, the duo’s bond deepens despite their archetypal clashing personalities, with the laid-back, sexually confident Jamie attempting to convince the uptight, prudish Marian to open up her heart—and legs—to love and lust.