The following contains spoilers for Drive-Away Dolls, now playing in theatersDrive-Away Dolls features a surprisingly great role for Matt Damon, just the latest example of the actor’s skill with a surprising character archetype. Drive-Away Dolls is a surprisingly romantic film, with much of the movie’s emotional throughline, focused on the relationship between best friends Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) as it steadily becomes something more. Their road trip ends up drawing them into the orbits of some unexpected criminals, who are carrying a hugely invaluable secret.
The deadly Drive-Away Dolls isn’t nearly as focused on that criminal plot as one would expect though, with much of the film instead focused on the central duo. However, there’s still room for some dangerous figures throughout the movie, the most unexpected being Matt Damon’s bizarre Senator Channel role. It shouldn’t be surprising that Damon kills it in this minor but vital role in Drive-Away Dolls, as it continues an unexpected trend for the actor.
Margaret Qualley’s Final Drive-Away Dolls Line Makes The Movie’s Timeline Extremely Confusing
Though Drive-Away Dolls is supposed to take place in 1999, Margaret Qualley’s final line makes the movie’s timeline extremely confusing.
Drive-Away Dolls Gives Matt Damon Another Excellent Villain Movie Role
Drive-Away Dolls features Matt Damon as Senator Channel, the latest in a long line of compelling villains played by the actor. A conservative politician seeking to ensure his continued public success, Channel sets the events of Drive-Away Dolls in motion by hiring the Chief (Coleman Domingo) and his associates to recover a plaster mold of his genitalia. By the ending of Drive-Away Dolls it’s wound up in the hands of Jamie and Marian, who use it as a means of blackmailing Channel for a million dollars.
Although he only gets one real big showcase, Damon’s performance as Channel is one of Drive-Away Dolls’ best moments. Seething with impotent rage, Channel voices his frustration that a pair of young women were able to get the better of him and make money off him. This anger drives him to try and murder them after the deal is complete, a decision that gets him shot and publicly exposed. Serving as a key contrast to the genuine confidence of Jamie and Marian, the Furious Channel represents the kind of world-view that would dismiss Jamie and Marian on so many levels.
Does Drive-Away Dolls Have A Post-Credits Scene?
Drive-Away Dolls could potentially start a new trilogy of lesbian B-movies from Ethan Coen, and here’s whether it has a post-credits scene.
Drive-Away Dolls Isn’t Matt Damon’s Best Villain Movie Performance
Despite being a very capable action star and dramatic actor, some of Damon’s best performances have come when he’s played villains. Three years before Drive-Away Dolls, he was despicable automobile industry executive Mike Clown in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move. His surprise role in Interstellar as a selfish and self-justifying astronaut was a dramatic highlight for Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic. His best villainous performance remains Sullivan from The Departed, an overtly capable but ultimately sniveling rat within the Boston police department. Damon has a particular talent for infusing his villains with a pathetic edge.
Damon can add villainous touches to potentially sympathetic characters, like Jean de Carrouges in The Last Duel. These are characters who have egos and believe themselves to be above the limitations that impact others. When things don’t go their way, they devolve into petulant children, lashing out at a world they can no longer control. Damon’s versatility as an actor allows him to track that entire arc, making his villains simultaneously dangerously sinister and pathetically tragic. It’s a unique skill that Damon uses well in Drive-Away Dolls, with his character adding a meaningful societal subtext to the road-trip romance.
Drive-Away Dolls
- Director
- Ethan Coen
- Studio(s)
- Working Title Films
- Writers
- Ethan Coen , Tricia Cooke
- Cast
- Margaret Qualley , Geraldine Viswanathan , Beanie Feldstein , Pedro Pascal , Colman Domingo , Bill Camp , Matt Damon
