Logan Lucky: A Tremendously Enjoyable Heist-Comedy Film
Rated PG-13
The Ocean’s Eleven franchise and Magic Mike) is back behind the camera for another crime caper film, Logan Lucky. With a talented cast of actors and a funny, enjoyable story, Logan Lucky (dubbed in the film itself as Ocean’s 7-11) is a must see for moviegoers this summer.
After taking a four-year long hiatus from film to work in television, director Steven Soderbergh (
The Logan family of West Virginia tend to be down on their luck. In fact, they’ve had such a string of bad luck that younger brother Clyde Logan (Adam Driver of Inside Llewyn Davis and Stars Wars: The Force Awakens) who lost his left hand while fighting in Iraq, is forever going on and on about the Logan family curse that he believes has afflicted them. Older brother Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum of 21 Jump Street and White House Down) is a local legend, a football superstar who was on his way to a promising career in the NFL before he blew out his knee. Sister Mellie (Riley Keough of Mad Max: Fury Road and American Honey) is a local well-liked hairdresser who has thus far avoided any bad luck herself, but it doesn’t keep Clyde from expecting it for her at any moment.
Jimmy was once married, but his former wife Bobbie Jo (Katie Holmes of Batman Begins and Thank You for Smoking) has since been remarried to a local car dealership owner named Moody (David Denman of Big Fish and 13 Hours). Jimmy spends as much time as possible with his and Bobbie Jo’s little girl, Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie of Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors and Please Stand By), and is devastated by the news that Bobbie Jo and Moody are going to be moving out of state and taking Sadie with them.
Without a job—he was fired from his most recent construction gig in the film’s opening scene—and with his daughter about to be whisked away from him, Jimmy plans to pull off a robbery that will set him up with enough money to move closer to his daughter and enough money to set up Clyde and Mellie for life.
Jimmy devises a 10-step plan to a successful robbery. In his attempt to be forward thinking, he even dedicates two of the 10 steps to acknowledging that everything will undoubtedly hit the fan at several points during the heist. Jimmy also manages to recruit Clyde and Mellie, both of whom agree to it even while knowing that similar past plans of Jimmy’s have landed them in hot water. After getting his siblings on board, Jimmy then goes to great lengths to recruit a well-known demolition man, Joe Bang (Daniel Craig of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Skyfall), who agrees to be a part of the job, but who also happens to currently be incarcerated.
Jimmy sets his sights on robbing the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. He is convinced that it is the perfect place to rob due to his knowledge of the Speedway—he worked construction there just before he was fired—and a tremendous amount of cash goes through there on race days. When the assembled team finally goes to work on the busiest race day of the season—the Coca Cola 600—they attempt to get away with enough money to easily set them all up for life. Watching their plan unfold is a lot of fun and rooting for these lovable wanna-be cons is easy to do.
Soderbergh and his talented, likable cast make Logan Lucky a truly entertaining summer film. Termed by some as a blue-collared Ocean’s Eleven, it is fast-paced and completely enjoyable.
Have you seen a movie recently that you’ve loved, or are you excited about one coming up? Send a short description of the movie and why you like it, to Pem McNerney at p.mcnerney@shorepublishing.com, along with a selfie of you at the movies. We’ll share it with our readers!