Review: Logan Lucky

Steven Soderbergh is a bit hit or miss as a director but for most of his career he’s been hit or miss with the genres, sometimes he’ll do a hard-hitting drama like Traffic or Che, other times he’ll take on an oddball crime comedy like the Ocean’s Trilogy or this flick right here, Logan Lucky. While not one of his top-tier flicks, Logan Lucky is a fun little film that carries a lot more heart and brains than you would expect for a West Virginian comedy, though it still finds itself surrounded by idiots from time-to-time.

Not long after losing his job at the Motor Speedway construction job, former high-school football star Jimmy Logan finds out that his ex-wife is planning on moving away with her new husband and taking Jimmy’s daughter Sadie with them. With no money to pay for the lawyers to stop her, Jimmy teams up with his brother Clyde, a bartender who believes the Logan family is cursed after losing his arm in Iraq, and sister Millie, a hair-dresser and only one in the family who seems to have it all together, to rob NASCAR and keep their family together.

Jimmy enlists the help of noted safecracker Joe Bangs and his dim-witted brothers, but since Joe is in jail they need to factor in a break-out on top of the actual heist. The plan seems to be going smoothly but when Jimmy finds out that the construction site is closing up a week earlier than expected, he has to get everything moving ahead of schedule with nobody really sure what the plan is.

It’s a fairly standard heist movie, we get the set-up for the robbery, then the actual robbery and a tie-up of everything at the end. But to that effect it works quite well, the small-town Virginia feel keeps the film from going overboard with the crime aspect of the film and keeps the comedy as central focus, this is a film as much about West Virginia as it is about robbing NASCAR and Soderbergh strikes a good balance between the two. Only issue would be the last 10-15 minutes, right when the film should be wrapping everything up they introduce a whole new character who feels forced into the film as a new villain but never really gets anywhere, the ending leaves things off on a possible sequel hook which is a kinda strange considering how closed off the film is as a whole otherwise but on the other hand if it doesn’t lead anywhere then it’s not harm done.

The character work in the film was a lot of fun, while no-one had a particularly deep role the whole cast was having fun and their interactions was what made the film so enjoyable. Katie Holmes had a small role as Jimmy’s ex-wife Bobbie-Jo, she managed to keep Bobbie from being unlikeable but she definitely had her moments where you weren’t 100% on her. Though fair play to Holmes, she manages to pull off the white-trash hot-mum look quite well. Katherine Waterston essentially had a cameo appearance as Sylvia, an ex-classmate of Jimmy’s turned mobile clinic worker, considering where she ends up I think she would’ve benefitted a lot from a bigger role in the story or no role at all, it’s not anything important to the film.

Riley Keogh – also pulling off white-trash hot – plays Millie Logan, the baby sister of the clan though for the longest time I thought she was Jimmy’s girlfriend because the film isn’t too clear on her relationship. Out of the three siblings she definitely has the least to do and at times feels like the film is struggling to find a place for her, but she gets her moments to shine – one part where she tears down Bobbie Jo’s new husband on his car knowledge is a lot of fun – and her standing as the only Logan holding themselves together made for a nice change compared to her two down-trodden brothers.

As one-armed brother Clyde Logan, Adam Driver shows that he has a funny side away from all that dark side mess. Clyde can be a morose character, his missing arm is a definite blow to his self-confidence and he’s often pushed into his brother’s crazy schemes more often than he would like but Driver was great in the role, making Clyde that little bit pathetic to be funny without going too far and making it mean, Clyde is a victim more often than not and the film treats him as such, one scene with a vacuum is made all the better for Clyde’s reaction.

Channing Tatum has the lead role of Jimmy, and while films like 21 Jump Street have shown off his comedy skills, here he pulls off a very straight-man performance and a lot more maturity than anything I remember previously. Stuck with a limp, a plan and a desire to do right by his daughter, Jimmy isn’t your typical criminal but he has the confidence to be one, as soon as he sets his mind on robbing NASCAR he pulls all his own resources in order to pull it off. Unlike Clyde, Jimmy doesn’t believe in the Logan curse and has a more positive attitude about things, it’s that attitude that keeps Jimmy as the hero of this story, he’s got the best of intentions and often comes off as quite innocent in how he approaches life, then you remember he’s planning a multi-million dollar heist and have to wonder how the hell he’s gonna pull it off.

The film’s ace-in-the-hole comes in the shape of Daniel Craig as Joe Bangs, infamous safe-cracker and career criminal. People use to seeing Craig as the suave Bond figure will be in for a shock with the tatted up, bleach blonde, heavily accented antihero he’s got going on here, but for what it’s worth Craig looks to be having an absolute blast in the role. Whether he’s flirting with Millie or giving impromptu chemistry lessons about gummy bear explosives, Joe Bangs is the type of runaway role that actors dream of having but are usually stolen by character actors or Nicholas Cage, Craig dives head-first into the role, taking himself miles away from Bond and loving every minute of it.

What Soderbergh does crucially for the comedy is that he never resorts to making fun of the West Virginia locals for a cheap giggle, if anything the funniest parts of the film are the subversion of the very cliché, Millie’s knowledge of car engines, Joe’s chemistry lesson, even Jimmy himself once his own plans start coming together showcase a much smarter brand of characters than you might have expected. There are definitely still dumb moments but they come across more as funny little accidents rather than idiocy on part of the characters.

It’s why the film finds its DNA in West Virginia as much as in crime comedies, there’s a lot of scenes that show the larger world around the Logan family and help build this very real but very funny universe, the subplot around the prison riot is a particular standout for the Game Of Thrones argument that feels like Soderbergh had to get something off his chest. More than that though it’s just the general attitude of the film as a whole, from literal NASCAR City to crowd-singing John Denver, Soderbergh found something special in this country-land and made the most of the location, capturing the humour but also the heart of the locals.

I wouldn’t say Logan Lucky is a great film but it’s definitely a good one, it’s a harmless crime comedy and plays out as such but the cast is having a great time with Driver, Tatum and Craig carrying the whole film and Soderbergh’s humorous ode to small-town America gives the film an extra edge to stand-out from the pack. It might have been beaten to the post to be the 2nd best Logan film of 2017, but there’s still enough here to warrant checking it out.

7.5/10