Review of Logan Lucky (2017) by Shpostal — 03 Sep 2017

Often promoted as a redneck's version of the "Ocean's 11, 12, . . . ", which it is, "Logan Lucky" is a funny if a bit stereotypical tale of a West Virginia man's attempts to seek some sort of redemption after being fired unfairly by the company doing below ground support work to repair sinkholes at the Charlotte Speedway.

Channing Tatum is the most believable character who balances the rural type lifestyle with intelligence, whereas most of the other characters, funny though they may be, seem to overdo the Southern hillbilly schtick, which Hollywood almost always does, and can be somewhat insulting to those Southerners from Texas to Virginia down to Key West who do not live the "assumed" lifestyle we see here.

But that's a minor point, and the film does do well in Jimmy Logan's case as far as empathy and the hurt of losing a job and dealing with a divorce. Otherwise, the big draw here for myself was to see Daniel Craig step out of his usual severe James Bond type mold, and he comes through brilliantly, having no difficulty making us believe he was truly from a backwater extremely poor West Virginia town.

For more comic relief we have his two bumbling hardcore redneck brothers in on the heist, and possibly the more insulting caricature of southern people in this movie. Being from Arkansas and seeing it a second time because my wife can watch a movie she likes a million times, the audience didn't seem offended, and laughed a lot.

After all, if you can't laugh at yourself, you can't deal with much of anything. Yes, we are from Dixie, but while I'm not a native, having spent my first 12 years in Iowa, I've been here a lot longer, 44 years and all my friends and family are here.

But that minor point aside, while "Logan Lucky" doesn't contain any big surprises, it does have its cleverness, humor, and decent story line to keep it entertaining. Fans of the "Ocean" series will like it immediately, and those looking for a good chuckle will like the movie as well.

It is a bit long, and there is one plot hole I won't give away that even after two viewings I'm still trying to figure out, because it relies on an assumption on the viewer's part and doesn't explain for sure just what this certain part of the movie has to do with the rest.

Otherwise, it's a lighthearted movie and will probably be a sleeper at the box office and do well on DVD.