Logan Lucky

Movie Name: Logan Lucky
Year of Release: 2017

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Stars: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Seth MacFarlane, Jack Quaid, Brian Gleeson, Sebastian Stan, Hillary Swank, Farrah Mackenzie, David Denman, Jon Eyez, Dwight Yoakam, Edward Gelhaus, Macon Blair

Genre: Comedy, Crime

Score out of ten: 8
View Trailer

Synopsis:

Celebrated director Steven Soderbergh is back, after a brief hiatus, and after his well received dual releases of 2013, "Side Effects" and "Behind the Candelabra". "Logan Lucky" follows the story of the Logan siblings, comprised of Jimmy, Clyde and Mellie. All three live in West Virginia, and are very close, even if they all have had a fair amount of bad luck in life. Jimmy, the eldest, loses his job in construction due to a knee injury, while Clyde works at a bar since coming back from enlisting in the army (where he lost his hand). Mellie works in a salon, and helps Jimmy taking care of his daughter, whom he shares with a slightly resentful ex-wife. Jimmy devises a plan to rob the money from a NASCAR event in North Carolina, but in order to do so, he needs to recruit the help of Joe Bang, an incarcerated bank robber (alongside his brothers Fish and Sam, both of whom are deeply religious). The intricate plan will require all pieces aligning together perfectly, something that will also require taking Joe out of jail ahead of time.
"Logan Lucky" is another example of how fantastically gifted Steven Soderbergh is. Taking a smartly written screenplay, the director introduces rhythm, humor and authenticity to a film that could have easily turned into a broad caricature. It's a testament to his talent that the director, reuniting with Channing Tatum (with whom he created "Magic Mike"), manages to bring all the pieces together, creating a film that is well orchestrated, well acted, and perfectly in tune with the material. This isn't simply a different version of "Ocean's 11" - this film strips the layer of flash that one had, and replaces it with humor and heart. The cast is uniformly great (with the possible exception of Seth MacFarlane, who overacts in his attempt to be overly funny and larger than life), and the score from David Holmes is perfectly cool and breezy. A very good film worth watching.