Logan Lucky
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Talent: Channing Tatum, Riley Keough, Adam Driver, Seth McFarlane, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes
Released: August 26th
Did anyone really believe Steven Soderbergh was retiring early? Thankfully, he’s not a man of his word, returning here in fine, if perfunctory, form. Losing his construction job due to a limp, Jimmy Logan (Tatum) decides to rob a racetrack while a major Nascar event is in full swing. Enlisting the help of his amputee brother Clyde (Driver) and inmate Joe Bang (a wonderfully against-type Craig), Logan concocts his elaborate plan while somehow finding the time to be a decent father, get into bar fights and flirt with an old high-school flame.
That all these balls are mostly kept in the air is some feat, although Soderbergh throws some so high they take ages to come down, whereas others get lost in the ether forever. It hardly matters. Such racketyness is suited to these offbeat, blue-collar characters. Things look all set to be enjoyably shambling until Soderbergh, the bravura technician, steps forth. Idiosyncrasies give way to the slick execution of set-pieces.
Though these montages don’t fail to impress, it would’ve been nice to see more of the loose, Coen-esque dialogue scenes from earlier. When the brothers are reunited in a bar near the movie’s end, we feel we’ve hardly got a sense of their relationship. This might’ve been forgivable in a film that didn’t allow the godless Seth MacFarlane to eat up valuable screen time with his hack scenery-chewing. Also, I found myself wishing for some ordeal to befall these characters. Things never get worse than a little bit tense. Like an overbearing parent, Soderbergh can’t allow his lovable characters to experience too much jeopardy. When’s this supposed ‘Logan Family Curse’ going to take effect?
But I feel like a fusspot giving out about such a fun, breezy movie. Logan Lucky is a riot; just don’t expect it to linger.
Words: Rory Kiberd
