Drive-Away Dolls released in U.S. theaters on Feb. 23, 2024. The film follows two women who embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, where they cross paths with a group of criminals along the way.

The film starts off on the right foot with a funnily exaggerated opening sequence that sets up both the comedy and thriller tones alike. From there on, however, Drive-Away Dolls is a hard flick to get through.

My biggest issue with this movie was the editing. It felt sort of cheap and cheesy, which does work within moments, but not always. Large portions of the movie feel sort of stitched together, not really smoothly flowing into the next scene. Coinciding with this, the film is also only 84 minutes long, but it feels both rushed and slow at the same time. Even with the short runtime, large chunks of the flick were a drag to get through and by the end I still didn’t feel like I got a complete story.

Drive-Away Dolls feels strangely confused about what type of story it is telling. Both Margaret Qualley’s Jamie and Geraldine Viswanathan’s Marian were intriguing main characters and the plotline regarding the mysterious briefcase was entertaining as well – the film is never able to direct its focus on one or the other. Because of this, the characters feel hollow at times and the main story almost feels lost in a cloud of other small subplots. The second half of the movie is certainly more fun than the first, but it all still feels jumbled and unsure of itself.

Overall, Drive-Away Dolls is a mess. There’s some satisfaction to be had at the end, but the journey to get there is uneven. There are some bizarre decisions with the editing, and the film feels much longer than its short runtime. I appreciated the performances and cinematography, but that wasn’t enough to save Drive-Away Dolls. It’s certainly not bland, but it is pretty forgettable.

Rating: 2 out of 5