It’s really easy to make a movie that five people understand,” director Steven Soderbergh recently told the New York Times. “It’s really hard to make something that a lot of people understand, and yet is not obvious, still has subtlety and ambiguity, and leaves you with something to do as a viewer.” Soderbergh can speak with authority on the subject: over nearly three decades, his films have ranged from eclectic indie projects (Schizopolis, Full Frontal, Bubble) to box office hits (Ocean’s Eleven, Magic Mike). For years he claimed to be retiring from the movie business, but then another feature would come out. Now, having made good on his promise for four years, he returns to cinemas this weekend with Logan Lucky, a heist comedy about a crew of goofballs trying to rip off North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway during the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600.
These genuine character moments dominate the movie and serve to paper over an absurdly far-fetched plot. In many heist films (not least Soderbergh’s own Ocean’s Eleven romps), the conspirators lay out their foolproof plan in advance, so the viewer will edge forward in his seat later when something goes wrong. Blunt can hardly afford this kind of scene, however, because if you ticked off all the unlikely stratagems required to execute the NASCAR heist, not even these yahoos would be dumb enough to move forward. Before the robbery can even commence, Clyde must run his truck into a convenience store and get himself sentenced to prison so he can help spring Joe Bang. The very first step of the heist is an exercise in wishful thinking and split-second timing: when a cake, secretly containing contraband, is delivered anonymously to the racetrack accounting staff, they all gather inside the vault to eat it, but then a fender bender out in the parking lot, orchestrated by the Logans, draws everyone out of the building at the exact moment when the time lock will seal the vault with the cake inside.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
