From left: Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum and Adam Driver form an unlikely heist team.
Steven Soderbergh’s new Southern-style caper, Logan Lucky, wafts over you like the breeze described in John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — a song that plays a role in several key scenes in this efficiently planned heist film.
Mining the Southern milieu for settings and characters, Soderbergh introduces us to divorced dad Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum), who commutes between West Virginia and a construction site at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, but loses that job due to an old football injury. The job had given him inside knowledge of the Speedway’s food vending cash system. Jimmy conspires with his Iraq-veteran brother Clyde (Adam Driver), who tends bar with a prosthetic arm, to pull off a well-orchestrated heist. Unfortunately, the only explosives expert they know, Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), is currently serving time. Jimmy and Clyde have a plan for that, too.
Director Howard Hawks once said that a good movie has three good scenes and no bad scenes. Logan Lucky has the required good scenes, and one great scene. A sneaky hot meet-cute between Jimmy and a near-forgotten high school classmate, Sylvia (Katherine Waterston), ends with a master class in Southern tease from Sylvia.
As in his Oceans films, Soderbergh’s best storytelling revolves around the heist; he’s less successful at mining emotions.
The delightful, often goofy, performances make up for that lack of depth. Everyone has a grand old time as they walk the line between affectionate ribbing and broad stereotypes. Craig, who is best known as the most recent James Bond, stands out in particular, distinguishing Joe Bang from Bond with every syllable and movement. Only Seth MacFarlane, as a sleazy NASCAR team sponsor, fails to strike the right tone. Even if he grew that mustache for the role, it’s a fake.
Logan Lucky only provides a misty taste of moonshine, but after a few years of “retirement” from filmmaking, it’s good to see Soderbergh back to the place he belongs. Lucky Logan proves that almost heavenly Southern-style fun suits him just fine.