Review: 'Drive-Away Dolls' is good-natured raunch, a wild throwback to the days of seedy drive-in movies

Triangulated somewhere amid the B-movie speed of Roger Corman, the exploitation raunch of Russ Meyer and the throwaway humor of “The Big Lebowski” lies “Drive-Away Dolls,” an agreeably wild bit of grindhouse fun about two gals unwittingly getting caught up with some bad dudes.

Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) are best pals, two lesbians living in Philadelphia, circa 1999. Jamie is a big-mouthed Texan whose girlfriend, Sukie (Beanie Feldstein), has kicked her out of their apartment after catching her with another woman. Jamie camps out with Marian, who is Jamie’s emotional opposite: Introverted, tightly wound and still nursing a torch for her ex years after their breakup.

Marian wants to get away, to go to Tallahassee, Fla., to visit her favorite aunt. Jamie suggests a fun and profitable way to get there: Get a “drive-away” job, driving a rental car after a one-way trip. Jamie calls a rental service and tells the guy, Curlie (Bill Camp), they want to drive to Tallahassee. Curlie thinks Jamie and Marian have been sent by a shadowy figure to deliver the car — and a mysterious package in the trunk – to Tallahassee. Curlie only realizes his mistake when the real drivers (C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnick) and their minder, The Chief (Colman Domingo), show up to claim the car.

From here, Jamie and Marian head south, with Jamie trying to get Marian to loosen up — and break her sexual dry spell – at whatever lesbian bars they can find in the Deep South. At some point, they figure out that they’re being followed, and also discover exactly what they’re carrying in the trunk.

What does this have to do with a nervous guy (Pedro Pascal) we see meeting an untimely end in the first reel? Or the conservative senator (Matt Damon) whose billboard gives Jamie the creeps? Or the women’s soccer team who invite Jamie and Marian to their makeout party? Or the psychedelic interludes featuring an alluring flower child (played by someone not listed in the credits, but instantly recognizable)?

Director Ethan Coen — in the big chair for the first time without his brother Joel — creates a hilariously down and dirty movie (co-written with his editor and wife, Tricia Cooke) that draws apparent inspiration from low-rent ‘60s drive-in movies. There’s a free-wheeling feel to the whole thing, as if Coen was told he could do anything he wanted as long as he didn’t spend much money.

Qualley (“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”) and Viswanathan (“Blockers,” “The Broken Hearts Gallery”), aside from both being smokin’ hot, have great comic chemistry. Qualley’s sure-of-her-self motormouth matches nicely with Viswanathan’s clenched anger, and together they keep this occasionally unsteady narrative on the tracks.

For fans of the Coen brothers over the years, Ethan Coen’s gift for sexy silliness in “Drive-Away Dolls” is an interesting counterpoint to Joel Coen’s recent solo effort, “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Two movies could not be any more different if you tried, and the idea that most of the Coen brothers’ great works — from “Blood Simple” to “Raising Arizona” to “Fargo” to “No Country for Old Men” — is just a result of them meeting in the middle is mind-boggling.

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‘Drive-Away Dolls’

★★★

Opens Friday, February 23, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for crude sexual content, full nudity, language and some violent content. Running time: 84 minutes.