“The Drive-Away Dolls” (** out of four) was an excessively unpleasant road melodrama about two friends (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) who hit the road together to get away from their various problems but soon find far more as they are pursued by various miscreants and criminals. Director Ethan Coen’s first film without his brother Joel shows flashes of their quirky and macabre humor and also elements of their at times self-indulgence and ugliness. Hard-core Coen Bros. cinemaphiles may find some homages to their past classics but film still comes up as a hollow exercise in excess.