Poster © Focus Features. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Comedy & Thriller
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 24 mins
ReleasedFebruary 23, 2024
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorEthan Coen
StarringMargaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein
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Drive-Away Dolls (2024)
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| Drive-Away Dolls's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Comedy & Thriller |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 02/22/2024 (Australia); 02/23/2024 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 24 mins |
| Budget | Not reported |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English |
| Drive-Away Dolls's Interests | |
| General | Road trips, rental mix-ups, mystery cargo, Tallahassee, the tail end of the 1990s. |
| Music | Carter Burwell, the Coens' longtime composer. |
| Movies | Fargo (1996). Coen crooks, much colder weather. |
| Television | The X-Files. Peak 1999 TV, also about stuff people want kept quiet. |
| Heroes | Marian. Wanted a quiet trip. Did not get one. |
| Drive-Away Dolls's Crew | |
| Director | Ethan Coen |
| Writers | Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke |
| Producers | Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke, Robert Graf, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner |
| Cinematography | Ari Wegner |
| Music | Carter Burwell |
| Edited By | Tricia Cooke |
| Production | Working Title Films |
| Distributed By | Focus Features (United States), Universal Pictures (International) |
Drive-Away Dolls has a mysterious briefcase, a gang of goons and a road trip to Florida, and it still never quite gets out of the driveway. Philadelphia, 1999: Jamie is loud and restless, Marian is buttoned-up and reading Henry James for fun, and the two friends sign up to deliver a drive-away car down to Tallahassee. A paperwork mix-up hands them a car meant for a trio of crooks, plus a briefcase those crooks badly want back. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan play off each other beautifully, and Colman Domingo is the boss of a pair of bumbling goons. Matt Damon turns up as a senator. But the jokes swing wildly, the chase never really builds, and even at 84 minutes it finds time to wander. Opening crowds handed it a C CinemaScore, though critics were kinder at 64% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 5.1 because two fun leads are stuck in a story that never finds its groove. $7,801 says the next time you pick up a rental car, you pop the trunk twice before leaving the lot.
What works: Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan make a lively pair of opposites, and the cast’s fun is contagious, with a scrappy, nostalgic B-movie feel.
What doesn’t: The screenplay feels overly familiar, the comedy is erratic, and the chase never builds any real tension.
Who it’s for: Grown-up Coen completists who will forgive a lot for one more 1990s crime caper. Not one for the family road trip.
Spoilers
In Tallahassee the crooks catch up with Jamie and Marian, then turn on each other, which lets the two friends slip away. They end up turning the tables on the senator who wanted that briefcase, cashing in with a big payday, and his career falls apart in the newspapers anyway.
Philadelphia, 1999. Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is the wild one, and she just got kicked out by her girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein). Her friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) is the uptight one, and she's planning a quiet trip to Tallahassee. Jamie invites herself along, and they book a one-way drive-away car to get there. One mix-up at the counter later, they're driving a car meant for another customer, and it's hauling something a trio of crooks, Chief (Colman Domingo), Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C. J. Wilson), really want back. Ethan Coen directs. Eighty-four minutes, one trunk nobody should open.
Anyone who double checks the rental paperwork before driving off. These two did not.
| Margaret Qualley | Jamie |
| Geraldine Viswanathan | Marian |
| Beanie Feldstein | Sukie |
| Colman Domingo | Chief |
| Pedro Pascal | Santos |
| Bill Camp | Curlie |
| Joey Slotnick | Arliss |
| C. J. Wilson | Flint |
| Annie Gonzalez | Carla |
| Josh Flitter | the bellboy |
| Matt Damon | Gary Channel |
| Miley Cyrus | Tiffany Plastercaster |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 20 October 2026 DataBot +560 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $7.9M; Domestic box office $5M; Opening weekend $2.4M; profit note now waits on a budget; Rotten Tomatoes 64%; CinemaScore C; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 64% (253 reviews); Metacritic 56 / 100; Rotten Tomatoes audience 37% (250+ verified ratings); PostTrak audience 66% positive; CinemaScore C; IMDb users 5.4 / 10 (29,599 votes); movie.guru score 3.1.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 20 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.