Steven Soderberg is one of those directors whose name you hear and think about all his artsy, froofy, indie movies that sometimes win awards, but aren't very crowd-pleasing. I'm talking about films like Sex, Lies & Videotape, The Limey, Erin Brokovich, Traffic, Full Frontal, Solaris, The Good German, The Girlfriend Experience, and Side Effects. You don't (well, I mean, I don't...) associate him with summer movie popcorn fare and/or comedies. But, then you forget that he directed the Ocean's Eleven franchise, Contagion, and Magic Mike. He'd "retired" from directing for the last three years and has made his return with Logan Lucky... which is essentially just like Ocean's Eleven except replace all of the smooth-talking, slick-looking, suave participants in the heist and replace them with five rednecks who couldn't even spell the word 'suave'. A lot of the elements that made the Ocean's movies so fun are recycled for this film, yet somehow... and this truly does take a talented director working with a good writer and a terrific cast to do... it feels fresh and original.
Channing Tatum is Jimmy Logan, a hard-working, blue collar, single dad with a gimp knee. His brother, Clyde Logan (Adam Driver), is a soft-spoken bartender with one arm... excuse me, hand. Their sister, Mellie Logan (Riley Keough), is a caring, trailer-trash hairdresser with a much higher IQ than she's willing to reveal to the world. Together the three of them live their simple lives separately just trying to make ends meet. Jimmy spends his off time with his young daughter... when he's allowed visitation from his ex-wife (Katie Holmes). Clyde humbly tends bar operating under the notion that their entire family suffers from the "Logan Curse"-- one that his caused Jimmy's bum knee to get him fired from a construction job and Clyde to, well, have one arm... excuse me, hand. After finding out that Jimmy's ex-wife is going to be moving with her new husband across state lines and taking his daughter with her, he realizes he needs to do something quick to make himself some cash. This is where the idea of a redneck heist comes into play (the motivation here for the robbery is kind of murky... it's like he needs the money for his daughter, but it's also like something he's always wanted to do just for shits and giggs). After convincing his brother and sister to be players in the heist, they need one last piece of the puzzle-- an ex-con, currently in-car-cer-a-ted, named Joe Bang (a hilariously scene-stealing Daniel Craig). Together they, and Bang's dim-witted brothers, decide to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during a packed NASCAR race.
The plot of this movie could've easily turned into a Larry the Cable Guy Netflix vehicle under the guise of a lesser filmmaker, but Soderberg and newcomer writer Rebecca Blunt, have crafted a very intelligent, very fun, very funny film with some of the most simpleminded Southern characters since O Brother Where Art Thou. Though these characters look like you wouldn't be able to penetrate their thick skulls with the sharpest of hammers, the plan that they enact is smart and creative, and the twists and turns of the heist are just as fun as any Ocean's film. What's great is that the movie is so down-to-Earth, it almost pierces the soil. Unlike the Ocean's films that use multi-million dollar, highly technological equipment to get their score... the Logan clan use the most rudimentary of tools to enact their robbery (things like stolen construction equipment, cockroaches, baked goods, bleach, jumpsuits, "borrowed" dealer cars, and gummy bears [yes, gummy bears are integral to the heist]). The creativity of the planning and the characters themselves enacting said plan is some of the most fun I've had watching a movie since Baby Driver.
A clever script, offbeat directing, and the genre bending of taking a heist movie and putting it in the hands of these numbskulls isn't all that makes the movie work... it's the cast. There are a LOT of recognizable faces in this film from Seth MacFarlane to Katherine Waterston to Dwight Yoakam to Sebastian Stan to Hillary Swank. But it's our leads who really drive the film. Channing Tatum is still enjoying the fruits of his Step Up career turnaround (thanks largely, in part, to Soderberg's Magic Mike as well as the 21 Jump Street franchise). He's less a six pack with a voice, and now a lovable bundle of abs (actually... he got a little pudgy for the film). Then, there's also Adam Driver. I'm not a fan of Girls. I thought his "comedic" timing was severely off in This Is Where I Leave You and he's serviceable in Star Wars. But the dude has very much won me over with his performance that's so understated and hilarious I kept waiting for him to just outright say, "Everett... my beard itches." Finally, Daniel Craig, with his strange-sounding, but equally hilarious southern drawl kills it as Joe Bang, the wild card of the group, who, in most instances, appears like he could go insane at any minute, but keeps you on your toes with his high-pitched giggles and "science" abilities.
Really, the only problems I had with the film were very small. I felt like it took a little too long to get going. I didn't really understand WHY they needed to do the heist in the first place (the stakes were very low). I didn't understand why everyone in the movie had the same accent, but Seth MacFarlane had a strange British one. And the ending reveal is presented almost exactly as the reveal of the first Ocean's movie. That's about it. Taking extra time to get going just gives us a little bit more characterization, something that seriously lacks in most summer movies. The reason to pull the heist, while absent, somehow doesn't FEEL like it's necessary. They just kind of want to. MacFarlane's accent... who knows. It's out of place, but not egregiously so. And the ending, while a carbon copy, still works within the scope of this film as well. These are just nitpicky things I have to address, so that I sound like a legit critc.
Look, in the current political climate, and overall state of the world right now, we need movies like Logan Lucky for escape. They take us out of the nightmare we're in and distract us with good wholesome, enjoyable entertainment for two hours and remind us that there is some good in this world. I feel as though the movie is going to unfortunately fly under the radar this year, but it has everything: silly, yet smart characters, a great deal of heart, a heist, and a whole lotta laughs. It's a terrific film.
A-
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