Review: "Logan Lucky" is the Great Hangout Movie of Summer 2017

Scene from Logan Lucky
Not since Jay-Z has a retirement been so obviously fake as that of Steven Soderbergh's. Following his cinematic swan song with 2014's Side Effects, he produced movies and directed the TV series The Knick. The perks of not working must've been hell on him, as he returned to theaters with Logan Lucky: a country-fried heist movie that's not quite a triumphant comeback movie, but is still a fun time. It's a film that proves why he's still a vital force in cinema, and plays to all his strengths in a kooky fashion. It may be a film reminiscent of his glory days on the Ocean's 11 franchise, but it's far from a retread. If anything, it's a sign of great things to come from someone who has nothing to prove and still surprises us, anyways. 
The story focuses around the two unlucky Logan brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde (Adam Driver). Jimmy has a limp that gets him fired from his construction job, and Clyde lost his arm while in the military. They buy into unlucky superstition that makes their personal lives a little downtrodden. Jimmy's a loving father without the responsibility to back it up. He wants nothing more to impress his wife (Riley Keough) and daughter (Farrah Mackenzie), which eventually leads him to pull off a heist at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a group of people that includes the incarcerated Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). It's an eccentric cavalcade of characters that play to Soderbergh's strength and, as in traditional screwball style, nobody is left without at least one memorable scene. 
The one thing that makes the film work is an understanding of location. The values of the characters are simple, but not condescending. Every motivation of every character feels rooted in a deeper and earnest personality. For instance, there is a recurring gag in which two supporting characters attack each other's dignity by suggesting that their car is better. While the accents may be a bit aloof and borderline Coen Brothers silly, each actor is dedicated to making them work. Clyde gets the most to work with as the quiet brother whose dialogue seems to trickle out nervously, saying what he can in hopes of not being assaulted while working at the Duck Tape bar. He's almost submissive to Jimmy, and even then he isn't a character denigrated because of this. Everyone's dynamic feels integral and thought out in ways that compensate for any of the film's weak points. By the end, Logan Lucky is the hangout movie that 2017 needs right now. Even for those who don't like the story, it's hard to not like this world.
It helps that the characters are counterbalanced with the main event: the extended heist sequence that makes up a healthy part of the third act. Speaking as Charlotte Motor Speedway is sold as its own ecosystem, it manages to create its own peculiar set of obstacles. With pyrotechnic Joe Bang in tow, the comedy comes from the unexpected obstacles that these country folk run into. Some of them are reliant on the place's infrastructure while others lie in personal flaws, all wound together to create conflict that explores character. At no point are the characters depicted as incompetent, but they're also far from the experts that need to make this a simple get-in/get-out operation. By the time that the film starts wrapping up, there's a sense of accomplishment that reflects true character growth and even suggests how secretly smart everything that came before truly was.
It may not be an exceptional film compared to Soderbergh's other work, but it's definitely one that reflects his strengths. With a great ensemble cast that also features great work by Katharine Waterston, Katie Holmes, and Seth Macfarlane; Logan Lucky is a film that understands its environment and better yet understands what it needs to do to tell a rip-roaring story that is full of action and humor. It's a solid return from a filmmaker whose busy schedule suggests that he never actually retired. All he did was take time to craft this beautiful little comedy and deliver it fully formed in a way that most ensemble films these days usually can't achieve. It's among the most fun films of the summer, which may not have a lot on their mind, but has a lot of fun doing it anyways. 

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