Logan Lucky

Score:  A-

Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough
Running time: 119 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  From the director who brought us Ocean's Eleven, Logan Lucky is another heist film - in a rather different setting.  Led by an impressive cast of stars (even Channing Tatum is great), the film quickly distinguishes itself from its predecessor.  It is a lot of fun, and funny, but it doesn't take the easy way out with redneck jokes, instead lifting up the culture of its characters.  Especially at this time of year, it's a top choice in the theater.  Highly recommended.


The Logan family seems to be anything but lucky.  Brothers Jimmy (Tatum) and Clyde (Driver) eek out a living due to regular misfortune.  Jimmy was once a star football player before suffering a leg injury, and finds himself laid off even from his construction job due to liability, while Clyde manages a bar having lost a hand while serving in the military.  After learning that his daughter is to move away with his ex, and suffering humiliation from out-of-towners, Jimmy decides that enough is enough.  He and Clyde devise a scheme to literally reverse their fortunes by robbing a nearby NASCAR race track.  But they'll need plenty of help, and so recruit their hairstylist sister, Mellie (Keough) and notorious safe cracker Joe "Bang" (Craig), among others.  While the Lucky brothers are surprisingly well-prepared, they still must heed their own warning that "shit will happen."

Logan Lucky has a very good cast, full of star actors in even small roles.  Channing Tatum is the lead as Jimmy Logan, an ordinary man struggling to get by in his rural hometown.  Channing owns the first part of the film, where he establishes his character as a man who has come to quietly accept that a significant potential of his life (as an athlete) is lost, though he is driven to keep moving forward for love of his young daughter.  It's some of the best acting I've seen from Tatum and gives the film a solid dramatic core.  Adam Driver's Clyde, Jimmy's brother, has less background but does a good job fitting in in the sibling relationship; he is even more hardened and stoic than Jimmy.  Daniel Craig gets the most colorful role in the film, seizing on the part of Joe Bang with great relish.  Very, very far from James Bond, Joe is at once wickedly funny and surprisingly disciplined and proud.  Riley Keough as sister Mellie is the most stable of the bunch, providing family (and criminal) stability but with attitude in a nice performance.  Fun or notable smaller parts abound here, from Joe's nitwit brothers, played by Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid (sons of Brendan and Dennis, respectively), Katie Holmes as Jimmy's ex, Seth MacFarlane as an obnoxious Brit, Hilary Swank as an FBI agent, and many more.

The simplest way to describe Logan Lucky is "Ocean's Eleven taking place in West Virginia" (actually, it's North Carolina) but while very entertaining and somewhat familiar, the film is not a simple parody or remake.  A large part of what makes the film successful is the aforementioned cast.  It may not have the glitzy names of Ocean's - replacing Clooney, Pitt and Damon with Tatum, Driver and Craig - but this cast is every bit as skilled, and are all quite appropriate for their roles.  The very premise of the film risks condescension toward rural America, but (being from rural America myself) I feel it celebrated the culture, if anything.  Certainly much humor is based on the setting, and there are some broad stereotypes like Jimmy's daughter competing in a beauty contest, but little if any is judgmental.  In fact, the film rather pointedly shows how much these characters are like anyone else, how smart, hardworking, and community-based they are.  This portrait includes some very minor characters, either part of Jimmy's background (an old classmate) or part of the main plot (an unwitting racetrack employee) who might otherwise be dull.  Of course, the main heist is a big part of the film; it's more drawn out and less slick than Ocean's - while a bit disappointing, it also is a stylistically appropriate contrast with its predecessor and has plenty of surprises.  It can be a little challenging to follow the details of the plot (and the tone shifts and misdirects a bit), making a second viewing likely quite appealing, but we're left with an ending that is perfectly satisfying in a quasi-Hollywood way.

***

Despite its similarities to Ocean's Eleven, this is one of the freshest and most clever films I have seen in a while.  The critics are right on target in loving it (IMO), but it had an awful opening weekend with audiences with under $10 million.  Maybe a lot of people just don't know about Logan Lucky, because the premise seems like it should appeal to a large audience.  And unlike too many films with a good premise, this one follows through and more on its promise.  It is the kind of summer film that, again, should appeal to many:  a great, star-filled cast at the top of their game; a fun story that draws comparisons to a classic while finding its own unique path; and a feel good tone and ending.  I strongly urge you to go out and see this one in the theaters - we should convince Hollywood studios to make more like it!


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