Thank heaven Steven Soderbergh is back.
And what a way to reappear! After his fabulous (and supposedly final) film, Behind the Candelabra, in 2013, I mourned his self-imposed retirement. But it seems we've gotten lucky, as the title of his new film suggests, because Soderbergh's killer style has returned as well. Logan Lucky is his exercise in re-announcing himself, and while it isn't the most original piece of film this summer, it might be the most grounded, accessible, and downright classy comedy of the year.
Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum in yet another excellent starring role), a hardworking man living long after his high school glory days are over, just got fired from his job. Apparently he hadn't disclosed his limp, a "pre-existing condition" that is discovered to be a liability for his construction company employers. When he learns that his ex-wife, now married to a wealthy car salesman with less smarts than dollars, plans to move farther away with his beloved daughter in tow, Jimmy desperately searches for a solution. Using his construction-job-related knowledge of an underground vault beneath a Charlotte racetrack, he enlists his family and acquaintances to help him with a great big heist.
After assembling his team -- including one-handed brother (Adam Driver), sister (Mellie), incarcerated explosives expert aptly named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), and his two idiot brothers -- Logan embarks on his plan. Soderbergh deftly takes us through the action without wasting a single instant on exposition. No plans are dissembled on screen; we just see the expert skills and brilliant schematics in motion as they are executed. That's about as streamlined as you can get, and it is so effective we hardly waste a moment wondering if they can pull it off. They just do it.
There are a few sidelined plots that add time onto the movie, including romantic intrigue in the form of Katherine Waterston and a bizarre racing team made of Seth MacFarlane and Sebastian Stan. Most affecting is Logan's daughter, preparing for her debut in a West Virginia pageant, and when Jimmy makes it back to see her perform, her sweet little singing voice stirs the spirit. The movie's ending takes a bit longer than I would have liked, stretching beyond the climax by introducing new characters and developing new mini-arcs. That is, an FBI team investigates the heist, and even when its agent (Hilary Swank, doing some really weird vocal thing and keeping her Mephistophelean eyebrows arched) is told the case is closed, continues her hunt. But never fear: The film ends before anything bad happens to our antiheroes. Of course, as with Magic Mike, it seems Soderbergh leaves the door wide open for someone to come in and make a sequel.
So, in case you didn't gather, it's essentially a de-glitzed reimagining of Ocean's Eleven. These aren't high-stakes Las Vegas games, and the interplay of sex and fashion isn't even a concern. Lucky features disabled, low- to no-income people with difficult lives and complex relationships. The Logan family, though remarkably resourceful and intelligent, don't put on airs and don't worry about appearances. It's all real to them, so it's real to us. That's what Soderbergh does with the film, too: Lucky never pretends to be something it's not, preferring to take pleasure in its own idiosyncratic rhythms. It's not a far cry from some Coen brothers films, actually, with its particular attention to a specific culture, oddball characters, and good-natured humor. Of course, its wisecracking sharp comedy is no less fabulous, and Adam Driver steals more than his share of scenes with pitch-perfect timing and hilariously awkward delivery. I don't know who writer Rebecca Blunt is, but she's welcome to come back into my ears anytime.
IMDb: Logan Lucky
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