Robert Riskin, who was Frank Capra's writting partner on most of his 1930's work, including Best Picture Oscar winners 'It Happened One Night' and 'You Can't Take It With You', decided to make one of his 'Capraisque' screenplays without Frank Capra after World War II. 'Magic Town', released in 1947 stars Jimmy Stewart as a public opinion surveyor who discovers a small town whose demographics and voting history so mirrors the larger nation as a whole, that he simply dosen't have to ask opinions anywhere else. Of course once the locals realize this they get kind of full of themselves and their opinions quickly cease to reflect the national mood, it's up to Stewart to set things right.
The parallels to 'Magic Town' occurred to me fairly early while watching 'Drive-Away Dolls', the first feature film directed by Ethan Coen sans his older brother Joel. Written by the younger Coen and his wife, professional film editor Tricia Cooke, 'Drive-Away Dolls' concerns two lesbians (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) on a road trip from Philadelphia to Tallahassee in 1999, who discover in their rental car a briefcase whose contents some bad men would gladly kill over. Like 'Magic Town', 'Drive-Away Dolls' contains all the elements associated with hits under its writers previous directorial pairing, but it never seems to spark as brightly as films made with that old partner.
The two Coen Brothers films this reminded me of the most are 'The Big Lebowski' and 'Burn After Reading', one of their best and one of their worst. This is a quirky piece with lots of stange, mostly undistinguished side characters. It is actually very well constructed, though it takes awhile to see where it's going. To often the movie felt flat and overly derivative of earlier Coen work. Leads Qualley and Viswanathan are the best thing the movie has going for it, an odd, distinct couple who each have some great lines. I suspect this movie may be very rewatchable but on first viewing I was kind of underwhelmed. **1/2
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