By Kip Mooney• On • In NewsNewsComments Off on First Solo Film from Ethan Coen Gets Release Date
Since ending their decades-long collaboration in 2019, the Coen Brothers have gone in vastly different directions. Joel directed a mostly faithful but visually stunning adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth. While the siblings had deftly moved between drama and comedy, this was easily the least funny project either of them had worked on. The first narrative feature from Ethan sounds a lot more in line with their past comedies like Raising Arizona and Burn After Reading.
Titled Drive-Away Dolls, the crime caper finds two down-on-their-luck women who head out on a road trip to Florida. A relaxing getaway becomes more than they bargained for when they get mixed up with a crew of criminals. In typical Coen fashion, the would-be lawbreakers aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.
The incredible cast includes Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan and Beanie Feldstein. The male performers include Pedro Pascal, Emmy winner Colman Domingo, Bill Camp and Matt Damon. The latter will likely have an extended cameo, similar to his recent pop-ups in films like Unsane and No Sudden Move.
Drive-Away Dolls opens in select theaters on Friday, September 22.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
