This is the smuttiest film I’ve seen in quite awhile.
That might have been enough to discourage any sort of endorsement ... but, well, y’see, this flick also is pretty damn funny.
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| When a flat tire forces James (Margaret Qualley, left) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) to check the trunk for a spare, they find something ... rather unexpected. |
(Guilty as charged.)
Those familiar with the Coen brothers’ sensibilities will recognize the tone and territory, although this time out Ethan Coen is directing on his own, from a seriously daft script he co-wrote with wife Tricia Cooke. They deliberately set out to bring modern sensibilities to the sort of gratuitously sleazy 1960s drive-in fare that film critic Joe Bob Briggs (aka John Irving Bloom) championed in the 1980s and ‘’90s. (Motorpsycho and Bad Girls Go to Hell are cited in this film’s production notes. I’ve yet to have the pleasure.)
The result is an aggressively vulgar, noir-ish blend of smutty sex, nasty criminal behavior and screwball comedy: definitely not for the faint of heart or sensitive of mind.
The year is late 1999, the city Philadelphia. A late-night prologue finds an extremely nervous man (Pedro Pascal) in a dive bar, clutching a silver metal briefcase while awaiting contact from another party.
What follows does not go well for him.
Elsewhere, the cheerfully uninhibited, hypersexual Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is caught cheating on her girlfriend, Sukie (Beanie Feldstein). Jamie couldn’t be faithful if her life depended on it; she’s much too fond of one-night hook-ups. Even so, the resulting break-up leaves her at loose ends.
Jamie’s best friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) — also gay, but in a much quieter way — is dissatisfied with her life and current employment. Her solution: quit the job and travel to Tallahassee, to visit her bird-watching Aunt Ellis (Connie Jackson). Marian begs Jamie to tag along; she doesn’t need much persuading. A road trip would give both women time to re-think some stuff.
But money is tight, so they decide to offer their services at a drive-away car service, where those needing to go from A to B can transport a vehicle one-way, for another client.
Cut to Curlie’s Drive-Away, where the stone-faced proprietor (a hilariously understated Bill Camp) receives phoned instructions regarding a Dodge Aries that has been left in his lot: destination, Tallahassee, due the following day. He’s told two people will show up to make the drive.
(You know where this is going, right?)
Moments later, by chance, Marian and Jamie show up, requesting a car for a one-way trip to Tallahassee. Curlie makes the logical — but sadly incorrect — assumption, and sends them off in the Aries.
This doesn’t sit well with the two mopes — Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J. Wilson) — who arrive shortly thereafter. Their boss (Colman Domingo) is ... similarly displeased.
Marian and Jamie, blithely unaware of this, also don’t realize that their vehicle’s trunk contains a certain silver metal suitcase ... along with something else.
In theory, retrieving the car should be simple, since Arliss, Flint and their boss know where it’ll be the following day. But Jamie, a seasoned road-tripper determined to loosen up her repressed BFF, ignores the direct route and next-day mandate, and merrily plots a meandering course that intersects with weird roadside attractions, favorite BBQ joints and notorious lesbian bars (with droll names such as She Shed and The Butter Churn).
Let the chaos begin...
The two women are a delightfully mismatched pair. Qualley’s motor-mouthed Jamie is an amped-up ball of energy: cheerfully profane, her shockingly randy and candid descriptions of past conquests and future hopes given additional color by a charming Southern-fried drawl. She can’t possibly be shamed, and sees no reason to worry about it.
Viswanathan’s buttoned-down Marian is quiet, prim and proper: much more comfortable reading Henry James’ The Europeans than cruising for pick-ups. She’s also more practical than Jamie, and — at rare times — able to (partly) control her friend’s reckless behavior.
A very sweet — and quietly sexy — flashback reveals how the much younger Marian learned of her fondness for women. Trouble is, her older self hasn’t figured out how to find a lover more attuned to her discreet nature.
Wilson and Slotnick are a similarly incompatible duo. The former, forever impatient, leads with violence, much to the latter’s annoyance. Arliss believes that more flies — which is to say, information — can be obtained via honey and amiable conversation. In truth, both men are totally useless, and their behavior becomes increasingly desperate as the women continue to elude them.
The love-shattered Sukie proves unexpectedly resourceful on numerous occasions; Feldstein is quite persuasive — and also amusing — as a tough-talking gal who won’t take crap from anybody.
(Coen movies are filled with capable women and inept men; the filmmakers obviously love that dynamic.)
The sharp and profane rat-a-tat dialogue is an amusing nod to the aforementioned classic screwball comedies, and — let it be said — the plot is totally bonkers. The frequent bedroom scenes are simultaneously graphic and chaste, funny and sweet.
Longtime noir fans will be reminded of 1955’s Kiss Me Deadly, and its plot-driven search for a box containing a mysterious whatzit; 1984’s Repo Man covers similar territory with the glowing contents of a Chevy Malibu trunk.
The difference here is that we do eventually find out what’s in the suitcase — shortly after the wide-eyed Jamie and Marian make that discovery — and it’s, well, quite a surprise.
All of these outrageously demented qualities aside, Coen and Cooke separate numerous acts with lengthy psychedelic color washes that become tedious in a film that runs an otherwise fast-paced 84 minutes. Granted, these interstitial sequences exist for an ultimately revealed reason — with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her cameo by Miley Cyrus — but they’re still annoying.
(Cyrus’ character is based on an actual individual, but identifying her would be too much of a spoiler.)
If you’re game for something way out there, dive right in. Otherwise, steer clear.
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