A hilarious ‘Ocean’s 7Eleven’ heist
Logan Lucky (M, 119 mins), Directed by Steven Soderbergh,
The Logan family have a history of being unlucky. Just when they think something’s going to go their way, fate deals them a crappy hand.
Jimmy (Channing Tatum) was a star high school quarterback and homecoming king destined for a bright future, until an accident left him with a permanent limp. Brother Clyde (Adam Driver) is missing a hand and forearm after two military tours of Iraq.
While Clyde eeks out a living as a bartender at the Duck Tape, Jimmy has spent the last few months as part of the crew repairing the sunken infield at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. That is, until his bosses decide his preexisting injury has insurance implications for them and he’s made redundant.
Frustrated, Jimmy decides it’s time to enact his long-gestating fallback bank robbery plan. Only now, armed with the knowledge of the inner workings of the speedway, he plans to redirect their cash-carrying pneumatic tube system to allow easy extraction. With the help of bank vault specialist Joe Bang (currently serving time at Monroe Correctional Facility) and his dimbulb brothers, the Logan siblings (including hairdresser sister Mellie) begin hatching an elaborate plot.
However, the one thing they hadn’t counted on was the repair work finishing early, meaning the window of opportunity is about to close sooner than they thought. Now, their only option is the speedway’s biggest day of the year – Memorial Day Weekend’s Cocacola 600 – an event that also clashes with Jimmy’s beloved daughter’s Miss Pretty West Virginia Pageant.
Four years after his selfproclaimed ‘‘final film’’, TV movie Behind the Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh roars back into cinemas with one of the most entertaining movies you’ll see all year. Collaborating with mysterious first-time screenwriter Rebecca Blunt (believed by many to be pseudonym for someone else), Soderbergh produces a comedy heist that’s kind of a combination of Talladega Nights, Little Miss Sunshine and the best of the Coen Brothers (and as the film itself cheekily declares – the central heist is best described as an Ocean’s 7Eleven).
Filled with colourful characters, crazy situations, clever camera shots and choice soundtrack cuts, Logan Lucky‘s beautifully layered plot features more twists and turns than a Nascar race (which admittedly isn’t hard). As usual with Soderbergh, the delights are in the details and conversations, which this time range from the true meaning of Rihanna’s Umbrella to the difference between gelato and icecream and discussions of the works of George RR Martin and John Denver.
And as well as the heavy hitting central trio of Tatum, Driver and Daniel Craig, Soderbergh is also able to call upon a deep bench of supporting actors who include Katie Holmes, Dwight Yoakam, Seth Macfarlane and Katherine Waterston. Then there’s the late cameo by a double Oscar-winning actress which has to go down as one of the scene-stealing performances of 2017, especially when she delivers the soon-to-be classic line: ‘‘I hate airtight alibis.’’
Throw in an unusual use for Gummi Bears and misdirections of the best kind and the result is two hours of five-star entertainment. - James Croot