(L to R) Hulk Hogan and Tiny Lister in ‘No Holds Barred’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Preview:
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are starring in a new movie.
Gus Van Sant is aboard to direct ‘Killing Gawker’.
The movie follows wrestler Hulk Hogan’s legal battle around his sex tape.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon had success with the real-life tale of how Nike snagged its deal with Michael Jordan via ‘Air’. But for their next based-on-truth tale, they’ve apparently picked up a much wilder affair.
The duo are attached to star in and produce (via their company Artists Equity) ‘Killing Gawker’, which will follow the 2016 story of how Hulk Hogan took gossip site Gawker to trial over the controversial release of his sex tape.
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Unlike ‘Air’, which had Affleck in the director’s chair, this one could well see a reunion for the duo with someone who had a huge impact on their cinematic past –– Gus Van Sant, who directed their first script ‘Good Will Hunting’ (which won the duo an Oscar), is reportedly on board to direct.
(L to R) Randy “Macho Man” Savage and Hulk Hogan at 1998’s ‘Survivor Series’. Photo: WWE.
With a script by ‘The Big Short’s Charles Randolph, based on Ryan Holiday’s 2018 book ‘Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue’, the movie will chronicle the lawsuit that Hogan filed against now-defunct website Gawker for publishing a sex tape video Hogan wasn’t aware was being filmed in the moment by former friend Bubba the Love Sponge (to be clear, Hogan was having relations with Bubba’s wife).
The tape was later stolen and leaked. Peter Thiel, the former CEO of PayPal, funded Hogan’s lawsuit in secret in order to hurt Gawker, which had previously published negative stories about him. Hogan ended up winning a huge judgment and Gawker was shuttered. In July 2021, Gawker relaunched under the ownership of Bustle Digital Group, whose founder and CEO Bryan Goldberg bought the website’s assets for $1.35 million in a 2018 bankruptcy auction. The revival was short-lived, as the new Gawker was shut down in February 2023.
Who will Affleck and Damon play in ‘Killing Gawker’?
Sneider reports that Affleck will be Hulk Hogan and Damon is set as Peter Thiel. And boy, we cannot wait to see the set pics/first images of Ben Affleck in character as Hulk Hogan!
Apparently, the team want to have this one shooting in early 2025, but there’s no formal date set just yet.
With no studio or streaming home attached yet, there is no release date to report, but given the elements involved, we can’t imagine this won’t be snapped up quickly.
But he’s also been thinking about his movie past, and which of them he might re-visit. Turns out, the 1998 cult classic poker drama ‘Rounders’ is ever on his mind. And, if he and the rest of the team behind the movie –– especially writers David Levien and Brian Koppelman –– have their way, we could actually see one.
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What was the story of ‘Rounders’?
(L to R) Matt Damon and Edward Norton in ‘Rounders’. Photo: Miramax Films.
The original movie, which starred Damon, Edward Norton and John Malkovich, explores the underground world of high-stakes poker.
It follows two friends who need to win at high-stakes poker to quickly pay off a large debt –– and for those who don’t know their poker terminology, a rounder is a person seeking high-stakes card games.
“The one we’ve been talking about for years, and we’re trying to, and I just saw Edward Norton a few weeks ago, like all of us want to do it is a second ‘Rounders’ movie. So much has happened in the poker world in the last 25 years, it would be fun to catch up with those guys. They had a whole movie ready to go then, but now there’s been a whole another change in the poker world since then, so I haven’t talked to them about what it would be, but I know what they had 10 years ago was fantastic, and I’m sure they could augment and roll with the times and update it to where we are today and make something great.”
No official word yet, of course, so don’t bet on anything happening immediately, or you hopes could fold.
(L to R) Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham and Andrew McCarthy in ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’. Photo: Columbia Pictures.
While we’re all in a sequel state of mind, there is some news –– albeit very tentative at this point as he admits –– from Rob Lowe about a potential sequel to 1985’s ‘St. Elmo’s Fire‘.
It was one of the classic “Brat Pack” films, and while there have been attempts by Sony in the past to re-visit the story on TV, interest has spiked with the release of McCarthy’s Hulu documentary ‘Brats’ about the titular pack. Sony has reportedly been more actively developing a cinematic return for the characters.
“We’ve met with the studio, and I have been talking about doing it for about four months. “But it’s very, very, very, very, very early stages. So we will see.”
So, yes… there is development, but don’t break out the suit jackets, knit sweaters and saxophone just yet.
(L to R) Andrew McCarthy, Mare Winningham, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez in ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’. Photo: Columbia Pictures.
(L to R) Matt Damon and Casey Affleck promoting ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Doug Liman hasn’t had a good time with his chosen profession in recent years. The director’s last three efforts, ‘Chaos Walking,’ ‘Locked Down,’ and ‘Road House,’ have all ranged somewhere between mediocre and unwatchable, a steep fall for the filmmaker who once brought us ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ and ‘The Bourne Identity.’ His latest outing, the crime caper comedy ‘The Instigators,’ isn’t a great piece of work, but it’s considerably more entertaining that his previous few films even if it runs into its own problems.
Much of the entertainment value comes from stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck (the latter of whom also co-wrote the screenplay with fellow Bostonian Chuck Maclean), whose longtime real-life friendship translates easily into an onscreen chemistry even as their characters are mostly at odds with each other. The two leads are backed up by a generously stacked cast, including the likes of Hong Chau, Ron Perlman, Alfred Molina, Michael Stuhlbarg, and others, all of whom are terrific to watch even if some of them get short-changed by the shaggy script. Like Affleck’s character, a cynical ex-con who’s smarter and has a bigger mouth than everyone else in the room, ‘The Instigators’ is fun until it becomes irritating.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Casey Affleck, director Doug Liman and Matt Damon on the set of ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Damon plays Rory, a divorced ex-Marine who has fallen on hard times and is hinting enough at suicide to alarm his therapist, Dr. Rivera (Chau). But before Rory can “cash in his ticket,” as he says, he has one thing left to do: he wants to see his son, but in order to make that happen he needs to settle exactly $32,480 in child support and other payments. And the only way for him to do that is to participate in a heist being orchestrated by lower-tier mob boss Mr. Besegai (Stuhlbarg) and his right-hand man Richie (Molina), who operate out of a local bakery.
Besegai’s plan is for a small group of thieves to infiltrate the election headquarters of the corrupt Mayor Miccelli (Perlman), whose re-election is all but reassured and who collects a staggering amount of cash “gifts” every election night from stakeholders who want to curry favor with him. The idea is to go in after the election night party is over and stick the place up, grabbing the cash from the mayor and escaping by boat behind the building. In addition to Rory, the crew will consist of Cobby (Affleck) and Scalvo (Jack Harlow), the latter a hot-headed hood who Mr. Besegai puts in charge of the operation.
Aside from Scalvo being trigger-happy and Rory being utterly inexperienced at crime (plus depressed and none-too-bright), a series of other variables – such as Miccelli losing the election in an upset – turns the plan completely upside-down. This is the best part of ‘The Instigators’: normally a film like this leads up to the big heist in the third act, and even if things go wrong, the crew improvises their way through it. Here the caper goes sideways in the first half-hour, with every carefully laid-out aspect of the plan going completely in the opposite direction.
(L to R) Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau and director Doug Liman from Apple Original Films’ “The Instigators” make an appearance at View Boston. Photo: Marion Curtis / Starpix for Apple Original Films.
That leaves Rory and an injured Cobby as unlikely partners and fugitives, fleeing the scene with little cash but with a piece of personal property that’s extremely valuable to the bellowing mayor. After its offbeat first third, ‘The Instigators’ becomes more episodic and unbelievable as Rory and Cobby go on the run, evading hitmen and corrupt cops (including one menacing Special Ops officer played by Ving Rhames) through a series of chases, explosions, and narrow escapes — with Dr. Rivera somehow hitching along as a fake hostage.
The contrivances necessary to get Rivera into and out of the situation, then back in it again later, also lead to some of the most tonally off moments in the movie. One extended, destructive chase sequence finds Rivera dispensing cliched therapeutic bromides to Rory (“Think about the person you want to be,” she offers improbably) as they careen through the streets of Beantown with a dozen police cars in pursuit. Because this is essentially a comedy, the stakes never feel as real as they could – even with compromised cops, seedy lowlife thugs, and political corruption rampant throughout the story, the script and Liman’s freewheeling direction keep this light and all on a surface level, leading to a somewhat tiresome finale.
The Cast
(L to R) Hong Chau, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon in ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Even as the air starts to seep out of the script, ‘The Instigators’ (an odd title, since Rory and Cobby don’t instigate anything, but merely react to their changing circumstances) is kept buoyant through its ensemble of sturdy, always reliable players. As mentioned earlier, Damon and Affleck provide most of the appeal here: the way that Damon’s morose straight man and Affleck’s jaded, seen-it-all crook bounce off each other provides most of the movie’s fun. Damon’s Rory has a wounded working-class decency, a guy who’s been pushed to the edge both by his own mistakes and things not in his control who only gradually retakes command of his own destiny as best he can.
Affleck’s Cobby is the source of most of the movie’s humor, as his disaffected demeanor, rogue-ish charm, and constant barrage of jokes, pokes, and non-sequiturs hide a street-level, quick-on-his-feet intelligence that gets him and Rory both into and out of every scrape. He becomes irritating not just to his targets but to us as well, and we’re kind of onboard when some of those targets tell him to shut the f**k up.
Hong Chau is always superb even though she has the least plausible material to work with and a character who verges in the edge of “therapist stereotype.” The rest, especially Stuhlbarg, Molina, Toby Jones (as Miccelli’s mild-mannered accountant), and Perlman as his Trumpy, self-serving boss, are all a pleasure to watch even if their characters are paper-thin.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Casey Affleck and Matt Damon promoting ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
“Paper-thin” is a good way to describe ‘The Instigators’: it all operates on a surface level, never resonating emotionally too much and not quite settling on the right balance of comedy, action, and crime thriller. It will make you laugh – or perhaps chuckle quietly – without building to a real comic crescendo.
Yet Liman keeps it all moving (only the extended finale drags out a bit), gets us in and out of the story in 90 minutes, and provides ample opportunity to watch Damon and Affleck have some fun. There are far worse ways to spend an hour-and-a-half – including a few that Doug Liman has provided before this.
‘The Instigators’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘The Instigators’?
A desperate, depressed dad (Matt Damon) and a cynical, wisecracking ex-con (Casey Affleck) find themselves roped into a brazen robbery that quickly goes sideways, with the unlikely duo soon hunted by hitmen, the police, the corrupt mayor of Boston, and the dad’s very concerned therapist (Hong Chau).
Who is in the cast of ‘The Instigators’?
Matt Damon as Rory
Casey Affleck as Cobby
Hong Chau as Dr. Donna Rivera
Paul Walter Hauser as Booch
Michael Stuhlbarg as Mr. Besegai
Ving Rhames as Frank Toomey
Alfred Molina as Richie Dechico
Toby Jones as Alan Flynn
Jack Harlow as Scalvo
Ron Perlman as Mayor Miccelli
(L to R) Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are aboard a new crime thriller.
Joe Carnahan will direct the movie, titled ‘RIP’.
The project is seeking a distributor.
It’s not quite such an event these days for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to work together; after all, their most recent shared effort, ‘Air’ (starring Damon, which Affleck directed and co-starred in), was only released last year.
They had been considering working together again –– on kidnap thriller ‘Animals’, which we reported on here –– but schedules couldn’t be worked out following shooting changes for Affleck on the ‘Accountant’ sequel.
Now, however, they have found their next joint gig, a crime thriller called ‘RIP’.
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What’s the story of ‘RIP’?
(L to R) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on HBO’s ‘Project Greenlight.’
According to Deadline, the plot details beyond that basic genre description, are being kept quiet.
The title doesn’t exactly promise sunshine and kittens, and we do know that the movie’s concept was dreamt up by director Joe Carnahan along with Mike McGrale, and Carnahan is looking to start calling the shots in the fall.
Affleck and Damon’s Artists Equity will produce. Carnahan, of course, has a solid history with crime films, having made the likes of ‘Narc’ and ‘Smokin’ Aces’ (in which Affleck had a role).
‘RIP’ is currently without a distributor, but given the star power and director, we’d expect this one to be snapped up quickly. Netflix may pivot from working on ‘Animals’, or Amazon MGM may well step up.
Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff in ‘The Accountant.’ Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
As mentioned earlier, Affleck has reprised the character of Christian Wolff for a sequel to Gavin O’Connor’s 2016 action thriller ‘The Accountant’, which is in post-production now.
Damon has Apple’s ‘The Instigators’ on the way (which he’s starring in, and producing alongside Affleck), and that will land on Apple TV+ on August 9th, with Doug Liman in the director’s chair.
He’s also a producer (without Artists Equity this time) on Netflix comedy series ‘Green Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse’.
Beyond those upcoming acting/producing gigs, the pair’s company is also backing projects such as an updated ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ and sports drama ‘Unstoppable’.
(L to R) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon win Best Original Screenplay for ‘Good Will Hunting’ during the 70th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.
Other Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies and TV Shows:
(L to R) Cailey Fleming and Ryan Reynolds star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘IF.’
After spending most of the past decade following the end of ‘The Office’ in “tough guy” mode, playing a soldier, a spy, and an alpha male patriarch (perhaps to distance himself from his nerdy image as Jim Halpert), John Krasinski pivots into family film mode with ‘IF,’ an original live-action feature that he wrote, directed, and co-stars in. But while Krasinski showed some filmmaking flair with the intense ‘A Quiet Place’ and its sequel, his heavy-handed attempt to make a would-be family classic is overwrought and underwritten, giving the usually charismatic Ryan Reynolds and spunky young star Cailey Fleming little to do but stare at some Pixar-esque CG creations.
Story and Direction
Director John Krasinski on the set of Paramount Pictures’ ‘IF.’
‘IF’ opens on Bea (Fleming), a young girl who loses her mother to cancer before the opening credits even finish rolling. But that’s not all: Bea’s dad (Krasinski) is suffering from a heart condition and requires surgery, forcing Bea to stay at her grandmother’s (Fiona Shaw) New York City apartment while her dad undergoes his procedure (his pre-op stay in the hospital is unbelievably long – whatever he does for a living, he must have great insurance).
Lonely but apparently not going to school, Bea spies some odd-looking characters around the apartment building that lead her to a flat upstairs. That’s where she meets Cal (Reynolds), a strangely out-of-time man who resides in the whimsical apartment with a whole horde of bizarre beings that only Bea and Cal can see. As Cal explains, these are imaginary friends, or IFs for short, who are looking for new children to bond with since their previous children grew up and forgot about them.
Cal takes Bea to Coney Island – apparently it’s perfectly okay for a 12-year-old girl to wander around the city as she sees fit – where he introduces her to a subterranean retirement home for a large contingent of IFs, such as a robot, a flaming marshmallow, a glass of water, a big purple furball that looks like it stumbled over from ‘Monsters University,’ and many more. Most of them are voiced by famous people like Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Emily Blunt, Awkwafina, Matt Damon, Jon Stewart, and Blake Lively, who all don’t get much more than a line or two (even the ones married to the director and/or male lead). The founder of the place, a teddy bear named Lewis (the late Louis Gossett Jr.), recruits Bea to help Cal find new children for the wayward IFs, which Bea apparently finds more worthy of her time than, say, staying by her dad’s side.
(L to R) Ryan Reynolds (Cal), Louis Gossett Jr. (Lewis) and Cailey Fleming (Bea) star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘IF.’
‘IF’ wants very badly to be a sort of live-action Pixar movie. While the idea of hanging onto one’s power of imagination even as an adult is a worthy one, and we will give Krasinski a certain amount of respect for taking a big, original swing with his own material, he’s not good enough of a writer to make it work and can’t quite get a handle on it as a director either. The movie continually tries to pull shamelessly and relentlessly at one’s heartstrings, aided so obtrusively by Michael Giacchino’s pervasively syrupy score (a rare misfire from the otherwise great composer) that one wants to tell the music to shut up.
The biggest problem with ‘IF,’ beyond its overt mawkishness, is that Krasinski’s world-building is sloppy and undercooked. Does Bea’s grandmother wonder where she’s going all the time? Does her father? Why can some people suddenly see their IFs for no apparent reason years after having forgotten them? How can IFs apparently open doors and move objects? Sure, this is a fantasy film, and real-life logic doesn’t always apply; but there has to be some sort of internal logic, a set of rules for the world, and that doesn’t seem present here.
There are some funny lines sprinkled throughout the film, and young children may delight in some of the many IFs who populate the story (even if none of them are given anything more than a cursory character sketch), but ‘IF’ meanders along with little urgency and no real sense of what we’re supposed to feel, despite its strenuous attempts to make us feel something.
John Krasinski Cast Many BFFs in ‘IF’
(L to R) George Clooney (Spaceman), Amy Schumer (Gummy Bear), Emily Blunt (Unicorn), Steve Carell (Blue), Flower, Cailey Fleming (Bea), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Blossom), Richard Jenkins (Art Teacher) and Maya Rudolph (Ally) star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘IF.’
‘IF’ has a stacked voice cast, although as mentioned earlier, the IFs come flying through so frequently that few get a chance to make any kind of impression. Aside from the kindly, wise Lewis, the IFs who get the most screentime are Steve Carell’s Blue and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Blossom, a sort of 1920s dancer who turns out to be Bea’s grandmother’s one-time IF.
The main human character, Cailey Fleming’s Bea, starts off as earnest and intelligent, but begins over-emoting through the second half of the film; Fleming is still an engaging presence who can probably do better. Krasinski’s dad, a whimsical sort who implores his daughter not to grow up too fast, is too smug to earn much of our empathy, while the usually sparkling Reynolds is forced to play it somewhat morose and passive through large sections of the film. His effortless way with one-liners doesn’t get the workout that this film could use. ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ can’t come soon enough.
Final Thoughts
Cailey Fleming (Bea) and Steve Carell (Blue) star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘IF.’
There’s a 10-minute tour through the IF retirement home about half an hour into the movie, in which Lewis tells Bea that she can make whatever she wants happen just by thinking about it (we guess). It’s a potentially interesting idea ruined by overly frantic, busy visuals, ending in an extraneous dance number which has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the plot. It’s also indicative of the problem with the rest of ‘IF’: this is a shapeless movie that feels more like the director playing with all the tools at his disposal yet not firming up the story he wants to tell.
After the success of the ‘A Quiet Place’ films, we suppose it was inevitable that the director would get to indulge himself with a vanity project. And as noted earlier, certain younger audience members may be enraptured by everything going on in the film. But if John Krasinski wants to try his hand at a family movie again, he should concentrate more on a good, focused story and characters, and less on self-satisfied sentimentality.
‘IF’ receives 4 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘IF’?
A young girl going through a very difficult time in her life suddenly gains the ability to see the imaginary friends (IFs) of other people who have left them behind. With the help of a neighbor, the little girl attempts to reunite all the IFs with the kids they once belonged to.
But later in 2024, we’ll see them in meatier roles for a new crime thriller called ‘The Instigators’, in which they play two thieves pulling off a desperate robbery.
Apple TV+ was quick to snap this one up and has the first images from the movie online.
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What’s the story of ‘The Instigators’?
Rory (Damon) and Cobby (Affleck) are reluctant partners: a desperate father and an ex-con thrown together to pull off a robbery of the ill-gained earnings of a corrupt politician. But when the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of chaos, pursued not only by police, but also backwards bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses.
Completely out of their depth, they convince Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) to join their riotous getaway through the city, where they must put aside their differences and work together to evade capture –– or worse.
And for Damon, this was a chance to reunite with his ‘Bourne Identity’ director. This is what he said:
“I absolutely love working with Doug. I can’t believe it took us 20 years to find something else to do together. Doug is one of the most creatively tenacious people I’ve ever met. He just won’t stop until the movie is as good as it can be, and that is the best possible thing you can feel from a director. I trust him completely.”
“‘The Instigators’ is about two strangers who are hired for a heist. They become frenemies and then become friends while Jack Harlow yells at us, Paul Walter Hauser insults us, Ving Rhames hunts us, and Hong Chau keeps us alive.”
When will ‘The Instigators’ land on Apple TV+
Apple TV+ will start streaming the new movie on August 9th. Hopefully Liman is already aware it’ll be going directly there; we don’t need another ‘Road House’ protest.
(L to R) Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
(L to R) Margaret Qualley as “Jamie” and Geraldine Viswanathan as “Marian” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
With the Coen brothers taking some time off from each other after more than three decades of making films together, Joel Coen directed the eerie, intense ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ with Denzel Washington, while Ethan Coen has gone in a decidedly different – if also somewhat more familiar — direction.
Writing with his wife (and occasional Coens editor) Tricia Cooke, Ethan has come up with ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a combination of road movie, comedic caper, and lesbian romance that comes across in the style of earlier Coen brothers laughers like ‘Raising Arizona’ or ‘The Big Lebowski.’ But while the two leads have a sweet and even sexy chemistry, the laughs are only intermittent and the movie ends up as a trifle more than anything else.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Actor Margaret Qualley, actor Geraldine Viswanathan and director/writer/producer Ethan Coen on the set of ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) are two young women who are part of Philadelphia’s lesbian community circa December 1999. Jamie is spur-of-the-moment, unfiltered, and endlessly horny, wrecking her latest relationship with cop Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) when she is caught cheating on her. Marian, on the other hand, is uptight and generally unhappy with her life, which Jamie sees as a cue that her friend needs to get out in the world and get some action.
The two decide to reboot their lives with a road trip to Tallahassee, Florida, where Marian wants to do some reading and bird-watching while Jamie wants to stop at every lesbian bar they can find along the way and get them both laid. The pair hit the road in a one-way rental courtesy of drive-away agency operator Curlie (Bill Camp) – except that Curlie has given them the wrong car.
Unbeknownst to the ladies, the trunk contains cargo both strange and decidedly illegal, and the two women find themselves soon pursued by two goons (C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnick) sent in hot pursuit by their boss (Colman Domingo), who answers to an even higher, more sensitive authority. How Jamie and Marian deal with the situation could either shatter their friendship, end their lives, or both.
(L to R) Actor Geraldine Viswanathan, actor Margaret Qualley, and director/writer/producer Ethan Coen on the set of ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
As one might ascertain, ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ (the original title, ‘Drive-Away Dykes,’ was deemed not marketable by the studio) sounds a lot like it’s in the vein of the deadpan, surreal comedies that Joel and Ethan Coen were perhaps best-known for during their 34 years of making films together. While the siblings have made more somber films together as well, like the brilliant ‘No Country for Old Men,’ as well as drama/comedy hybrids like ‘Fargo’ and ‘A Serious Man,’ it’s their zanier work like ‘Raising Arizona,’ ‘The Big Lebowski,’ and ‘O Brother Where Are Thou?’ that audiences arguably associate most with them.
‘Drive-Away Dolls’ is squarely in the latter tradition, with a slightly different spin. In addition to directing (this is Ethan’s first narrative feature on his own, following a 2022 Jerry Lee Lewisdocumentary), Ethan also wrote the script with his wife Tricia Cooke, who identifies as queer. Perhaps the freshest aspect of ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ is that its leads, Jamie and Marian, are not solely characterized by their sexuality; yes, the movie features a heaping of sex, and Jamie is determined to get some nookie for both herself and Marian, but it’s not the driving factor of the story or part of its overall themes. It’s just part of who they are.
The relationship between Jamie and Marian is at first caustic, of course – these two couldn’t be more opposite – but it soon unveils a sweeter undertone as they (somewhat predictably) begin to realize that their feelings for each other run deeper than suspected. Qualley and Viswanathan are great together in that regard, and the strongest element of the movie. But the plot – a mishmash of ‘60s and ‘70s road trip B-movies with a dash of psychedelia – is so slight, the ultimate mystery so silly, and the humor so intermittent that ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ ends up feeling like a lark more than anything else. It has its fun moments, but it dissolves from one’s mind the minute it’s over.
Characters With No Names
(L to R) Colman Domingo as “The Chief”, C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnick as “The Goons” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features
Part of the problem with ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ is that it feels almost like a rough draft version of a Coen brothers film (since Cooke, a film editor by trade, frequently edited the movies made by her husband and brother-in-law, she was an integral part of that process as well). The Coens’ comedies are often fizzy in nature, but the best of them have had either incredibly compelling characters or either a darker or more emotional underpinning that helped turn them into classics.
There’s little of that in ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ outside of the chemistry between Qualley (who looks a lot like her mom, Andie MacDowell, in this film) and Viswanathan, both of whom have great timing, highly expressive faces and effortless presence. Qualley is particularly strong here. But once you get beyond them, the rest of the characters are barely sketched in.
Pedro Pascal stars as “The Collector” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
Most of them don’t even have names, in fact. Domingo, always excellent, is just called the Chief; his goons are literally listed as The Goons in the credits. A cameoing Pedro Pascal is known simply as the Collector (there are a couple of other cameos as well, from Matt Damon and a star we won’t name). We’re always a little suspicious when we see cast lists like this: it’s often a clear sign that these characters are nothing more than stock figures, and little attempt is made to give them any more depth than that (the Goons’ scenes together – one of them constantly yammering and the other mostly silent – also feel like reheated leftovers from two similar characters in ‘Fargo,’ played in that film by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare).
But that’s the nature of ‘Drive-Away Dolls’: it’s so sketchily pulled together that despite the warmth of its leads and a few fleeting jokes than land well, it feels like half the movie is missing in a way. And in one sense, it is.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Geraldine Viswanathan as “Marian”, Margaret Qualley as “Jamie” and Beanie Feldstein as “Sukie” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
The Coen brothers have made some of the most memorable movies of the last 40 years, from their still-stunning debut ‘Blood Simple’ to some of the later masterpieces we mentioned earlier. But from the two narrative movies we’ve seen them make separately – Joel’s ‘Macbeth’ and Ethan’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ — it seems like they have very different sensibilities. Based on watching the latter, it almost seems that Ethan needs his brother’s sense of gravitas to balance out his goofier impulses.
We certainly admire the lead performances and the film’s successful attempt to make a queer-centric movie that doesn’t feel like exploitation (not the good kind) or heavy-handed social commentary. But we wish those were in service of something that was funnier in a more organic way and less of a one-dimensional pastiche.
‘Drive-Away Dolls’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the Plot of ‘Drive-Away Dolls’?
This comedy caper follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.
Who is in the cast of ‘Drive-Away Dolls’?
Margaret Qualley as Jamie
Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian
Beanie Feldstein as Sukie
Colman Domingo as Chief
Pedro Pascal as Santos
Bill Camp as Curlie
Matt Damon as Senator Channel
Joey Slotnick as Arliss
(L to R) Margaret Qualley as “Jamie” and Geraldine Viswanathan as “Marian” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
(L to R) Geraldine Viswanathan, Margaret Qualley and Beanie Feldstein talk director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls.’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Geraldine Viswanathan, Margaret Qualley and Beanie Feldstein about their work on ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ their quirky characters, and working with director Ethan Coen.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.
Geraldine Viswanathan stars as “Marian” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
Moviefone: To begin with, Geraldine, can you talk about your first reaction to Ethan Coen and Trisha Cooke’s screenplay and the aspects of this character you were excited to explore on screen?
Geraldine Viswanathan: I think getting the script was just so exciting. I feel like Ethan and Trish are some of the greatest writers of our time. It was just such an original and fresh script with so many cool elements and so many surprising turns, and I really fell in love with the character, Marian. I feel like at first, I thought I was really different from her, but I also kind of understood her and related to her and the way that I get introverted or sensitive and shy. I felt excited to play into those parts of myself a little bit more.
Margaret Qualley stars as “Jamie” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
MF: Margaret, Jamie is really a free spirit, can you talk about your approach to playing her?
Margaret Qualley: Playing Jamie, she’s a total free spirit. It was very inspiring. I would like to have a little bit more of Jamie in my everyday life because I’m somebody that can be a little in my head, go home a little bit anxious, and I think that’s not really a big part of her experience. I imagine her kind of like a teenage boy. Not that teenage boys aren’t in their head, but there maybe is kind of like a puppy spirit.
Beanie Feldstein stars as “Sukie” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
MF: Beanie, can you talk about Sukie’s breakup with Jamie and how that anger really fuels her journey through the movie?
Beanie Feldstein: I mean, I think you hit it that she’s so heartbroken, but that kind of takes a turn into just tunnel vision, that she’s just, no matter whether they’re together or not together, she’s focused on Jamie. That was the note that Ethan and Tricia gave me in my Zoom audition. They were just like, “You cannot be more obsessed with her, and nothing takes your focus away from her.” So, I think that’s kind of Sukie’s motives the entire time, and to play someone who was just unapologetically angry, and abrasive is the opposite of my personality. So that was fun to jump full speed ahead. I think Ethan and Tricia saw something in me that I don’t see in myself. So, it was fun to play.
(L to R) Actor Geraldine Viswanathan, actor Margaret Qualley, and director/writer/producer Ethan Coen on the set of ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
MF: Finally, Geraldine, what was it like being on set with Ethan Coen and collaborating with him on this movie?
GV: I mean, incredible. He is one of the best filmmakers of our time and really is a wonderful person. He has every right to be an asshole, but he’s just not. He’s so great and special, and he’s just a genius. I just relished being around him. Anytime he spoke I was like, “Yes.” I just wanted to learn from him as much as I could. He’s even better than you could imagine.
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What is the Plot of ‘Drive-Away Dolls’?
This comedy caper follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.
(L to R) Geraldine Viswanathan as “Marian”, Margaret Qualley as “Jamie” and Beanie Feldstein as “Sukie” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
(L to R) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on HBO’s ‘Project Greenlight.’
Preview:
Ben Affleck is on board to direct kidnapping thriller ‘Animals’.
Matt Damon is aboard to star.
The script is by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray.
Ever since they broke out big writing (to Oscar-winning effect) and starring in ‘Good Will Hunting’, old friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have looked for chances to work together again.
They’ve managed it through different avenues –– appearing in several Kevin Smith movies (especially ‘Dogma’, where they play wayward angels) and Ridley Scott’s ‘The Last Duel’, plus the movies they’ve worked on as producers.
The duo scored a big success last year for Amazon with ‘Air’ –– Affleck directed, and Damon starred in the story of Nike executives trying to seal a deal with basketball star (back before he truly was one) Michael Jordan to make what became the Air Jordan.
That movie ended up earning around $90 million at the box office, and now they’ve found another project to repeat the same process, with Affleck directing and Damon starring in ‘Animals’.
So far, the plot details are being kept quiet on this one, though Deadline has learned that the kidnapping thriller has a script that began life with Connor McIntyre and has since seen revisions from ‘Captain Phillips’ and ‘Richard Jewel’ writer Billy Ray.
Damon and Affleck will produce the movie –– as they did ‘Air’ –– through their Artists Equity company.
Yet unlike ‘Air’, this movie won’t arrive via Amazon. Instead, Netflix has jumped aboard to finance and distribute the film, though it remains to be seen whether it’ll go the theatrical route or will land in Netflix’s streaming service.
Affleck is planning to make ‘Animals’ before he heads to his next planned acting gig –– he’s reportedly going to reprise the role of Christian Wolff for a sequel to Gavin O’Connor’s 2016 action thriller ‘The Accountant’.
He’ll appear in wife Jennifer Lopez’s new film, ‘This is Me… Now’, which ties in with the album of the same name. And there are various projects that he’s producing.
He’s also got ‘The Instigators’ on the way (which he’s starring in, and producing alongside Affleck), but which doesn’t yet have an announced release date.
(L to R) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon win Best Original Screenplay for ‘Good Will Hunting’ during the 70th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
Universal is looking to revisit Jason Bourne.
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ director Edward Berger is in negotiations to develop the new movie.
Though Matt Damon played the character in the past, there is no casting information yet.
If you had told us that ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ director Edward Berger would follow his Oscar-winning war movie with a new iteration of the Jason Bourne film franchise, we’re not sure we would have believed you. Technically, he isn’t –– more on that below.
But according to Deadline, he is also looking into the idea of joining a franchise, as he’s in negotiations to develop a new Jason Bourne movie for Universal.
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What’s the story of the Bourne franchise so far?
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
Adapted from the novels originated by Robert Ludlum in 1980 with ‘The Bourne Identity’ and continued by authors including Eric Van Lustbader and Brian Freeman, the ‘Bourne’ movie franchise kicked off in 2002 with the eponymous original film starring Matt Damon and directed by Doug Liman.
Damon plays the title character, a man who is pulled from the Mediterranean sea with no memory of who he is, but a particular set of skills with which he can protect himself.
As it turns out, he’s a special agent trained by a CIA black ops outfit codenamed Treadstone and must figure out the rest of his background while other Treadstone trainees and agents track him down.
Following those, the franchise took a left turn into spin-off territory, as Jeremy Renner starred as a different character (albeit with a similar background) for director Tony Gilroy in 2012’s ‘The Bourne Legacy.’
Greengrass and Damon reunited to make 2016’s ‘Jason Bourne’, though that didn’t get quite the same rapturous reception as their previous collaborations.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
How the movie shakes out will depend on certain factors –– what Universal intends for the story to reboot the character for a new take, or whether they can entice Damon back.
If he is considered, he’ll likely wait for the script (no writer is attached) to be written before he commits at all.
As for Berger, he’s also developing a spy series for Netflix based on Christopher Reich’s Simon Riske book series, which have been compared to both Bourne and the James Bond series.
Plus, he’s already in post-production on a film for Universal’s Focus Features arm –– religious thriller ‘Conclave’, about the group of Catholic Cardinals responsible for selecting a new Church leader while one of their number is trying to uncover a secret from the late Pontiff.
