It’s a swing and a miss from Ethan Coen‘s first solo film without his brother Joel.

Drive-Away Dolls, originally called Henry James’ Drive-Away Dykes but this was too controversial for the establishment, has many of the hallmarks of a Coen brothers film. It has quirky camera angles, exaggerated characters, almost cartoon like scenes and the occasional acid trip musical interlude. And it has Matt Damon.

Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is a ‘Hi Mama’ lesbian (according to my daughter) – sexy, confident, and a hit with the ladies. She is such a hit that her police officer girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) breaks up with her and chucks her out of her house.

At the same time Jaime‘s friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) is searching for something more in her life. She is the opposite to Jaime – buttoned up, timid and hasn’t had a relationship for years since her heart was broken. She wants to visit an aunt in Tallahassee and a mixup at a drive-away company (“Will anyone save Curlie?) – where you agree to drive a vehicle from one place to another – sees them heading off in a car with mysterious contraband in the boot.

The goons (that’s actually how they are credited – Joey Slotnick and CJ Wilson) that were supposed to collect the car set off in pursuit of them and the humour comes from two average men pursuing lesbians from one dyke bar to another across the southern states of America.

It starts off well, and there is a lot of delight in the overt sexuality of the lesbian scene, and the easy camaraderie that the women find. The goons are amusing and there are some delightful cameos from Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon and an uncredited Miley Cyrus. For a film that is only 84 minutes long, though, it starts to drag, the kaleidoscopic music interludes become confusingly pointless and Jaime increasingly channels Matthew McConaughey in all his smug Southern charm.

There is a potential love story between the two leads and I struggled to find any chemistry between them. I think we are supposed to be cheering this on but it didn’t feel authentic and sometimes Jamie felt like a creep.

All of the characters were caricatures, even Jamie and Marian, and although this can work I think you need a little bit more depth in your leads in order to feel really engaged with their outcomes. I found myself not really caring. And there’s a lot of fascination with penises, something I didn’t really expect from a movie about lesbians. It felt a little bit like projection.