A Bit of Good Lucky

When the movie Logan Lucky raced through theaters a couple of years ago, it seemed like several friends were interested in seeing it. It also seemed like nobody I knew actually did. It fell off everyone's radar almost immediately, mine included. But I recently caught up with the movie and found, if not an absolute gem, at least a fun romp worth a look.

Made by director Steven Soderbergh, very consciously in the model of his Ocean's Eleven remake, Logan Lucky is a heist story with less glamorous trappings and less professional characters. But it has all the knotted-up plotting, clever twists, and fun scheming you could ask for in a heist movie. When Jimmy Logan is let go from his construction job in North Carolina, he's desperate for money. With the help of his brother and sister, he hatches a plot to steal money from Charlotte Motor Speedway during a NASCAR race. The colorful characters he recruits for the job are a sort of redneck proxy for a typical heist crew, and shenanigans ensue.

There's something both refreshingly new and utterly familiar about this movie. It hits all the expected notes of a heist film with ritual-like commitment. The unusual cast of characters makes the this feel different at times, though the formula is essentially unchanged. It's like going out for a style of food you like, but to a new restaurant you've never visited. You order your regular dish, and it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Maybe not quite as good as you get at your favorite establishment, but good enough to satisfy.

Part of the similarity is that even though the characters seem different on paper, even though they clearly need the money more than a George Clooney or a Brad Pitt, they don't act all that differently. Their scheme is impossibly clever (not that we'd have it any other way), and executed with clockwork precision. Even the utterly gonzo performance from Daniel Craig (playfully mangling a Southern accent), is pretty much in the mode of the Don Cheadle character from Ocean's Eleven.

But it's hard to complain too much about the movie not being "different" enough, because on the few occasions it tries, it gets awkward and less effective. A subplot about the main character's daughter entering a talent competition has misplaced Little Miss Sunshine vibes, while a tacked-on epilogue about an FBI agent investigating the heist falls flat (even as fun as Hilary Swank is in the role). That said, a screwball scene devoted entirely to complaining about George R.R. Martin's writing pace is perhaps the best scene of the movie -- so at least one of the departures does work.

Ultimately, it's a really simple equation. Do you like heist movies? Do you like Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Seth MacFarlane, Sebastian Stan, and/or Hilary Swank? If yes, then you'll be entertained by Logan Lucky, even if it doesn't become a favorite movie. I give it a solid B.