‘Roofman’ Brings the Energy to Blow the Top Off Multiplexes

October 10, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Ben Mendelsohn, Channing Tatum, Derek Cianfrance, Emory Cohen, Jeffrey Manchester, Jimmy O. Yang, Juno Temple, Kennedy Moyer, Kirsten Dunst, Lakeith Stanfield, Lily Collias, Melonie Diaz, Molly Price, Peter Dinklage, Roofman, Tony Revolori, Uzo Aduba 1 Comment

Is the Roofman on fire? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out! (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, Lakeith Stanfield, Ben Mendelsohn, Uzo Aduba, Juno Temple, Emory Cohen, Melonie Diaz, Molly Price, Lily Collias, Kennedy Moyer, Tony Revolori, Jimmy O. Yang

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Running Time: 126 Minutes

Rating: R for A Brief Sex Scene and a Goofy Nude Scene (Not During the Sex)

Release Date: October 10, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Roofman presents Channing Tatum embodying the true story of Jeffrey Manchester, whose nom de criminality serves as the title of this film. We meet Jeffrey as a restless Army veteran who wants to be a better provider for his kids. So he resorts to robbing a series of McDonald’s in the Charlotte, North Carolina area by cutting through their roofs during their unoccupied hours. Eventually he’s caught and charged for his spree, but soon enough he escapes prison and hides out in a local Toys “R” Us store to plan his next big move. He somehow manages to evade capture long enough to assume a new identity and start dating a single mother named Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) that he meets after wandering into a church one day. As his wild story presses on apace, we’re left to wonder: maybe he’ll decide to settle down and live an honest life. Or perhaps instead, all his misdeeds will actually finally catch up to him.

What Made an Impression?: I’m going to do this review a little differently than my usual style by starting off with the question: Should YOU want to be the Roofman? I won’t keep you in suspense, though. The answer is: no, you should not.

So is that the end of the review? Well, let’s get a little more nuanced. By most accounts that I’ve come across, the real Jeffrey Manchester is fantastically charming, and Tatum certainly plays him that way. I found myself instinctively rooting for everything to work out in his favor, but then I caught myself enough to recognize that that’s not exactly the most defensible position. Jeffrey doesn’t just break the letter of the law, he also breaks the spirit. And while he does his best to eschew violence in the course of his misdeeds, some people do get hurt. Plus, he’s not exactly a Robin Hood where only Billionaire Big Business is getting hurt. So if you do find yourself rooting for him, I’d recommend redirecting that energy towards hoping that he’s given the opportunity to atone for his schemes and put his talents to better use.

And the Roofman does indeed have some considerable talents. He’s observant, thoughtful, and fun to be around. The trouble is, of course, that he too often utilizes those qualities in service of some very combustible misconduct. This is a tricky movie to watch, partly because it’s also a very easy movie to watch. On the surface level, it’s charming and exciting, which could lure you into a trap of glamorizing some bad behavior. Now, it’s not terribly difficult to avoid that trap, but what’s perhaps a little more challenging is finding the right balance when sorting out the admirable and the heinous within someone like Jeffrey Manchester. It makes sense that he found his way to a house of worship, because he’s clearly a sinner who also has some amount of desire to be better. You don’t have to be religious yourself to be inspired by this movie, but whatever your preferred belief system (or lack thereof), I think one of the biggest takeaways from this story is the eternal power of grace, even when (or perhaps especially when) things get out of hand.

Grade: 4 out of 5 Peanut M&Ms

August Movie Review Catch-Up: The Heat Dissipates

September 3, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Adria Arjona, Aileen Wu, Alex Neustaedter, Alia Shawkat, Alien: Romulus, Alison Pill, Amy Morton, Archie Renaux, Ariana Greenblatt, Ariel Donoghue, Édgar Ramírez, Barbara Hershey, Between the Temples, Blake Lively, Blink Twice, Bobby Lee, Borderlands, Brandon Sklenar, Cailee Spaeny, Carol Kane, Caroline Aaron, Cate Blanchett, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Daniel Betts, David Jonsson, Dolly de Leon, Ed Begley Jr., Eli Roth, Fede Álvarez, Florian Munteanu, Geena Davis, Gina Gershon, Haley Bennett, Haley Joel Osment, Hasan Minhaj, Hayley Mills, Isabela Ferrer, Isabela Merced, It Ends with Us, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janina Gavankar, Jason Schwartzman, Jenny Slate, Jonathan Langdon, Josh Hartnett, JT Mollner, Justin Baldoni, Kevin Hart, Kevin McKidd, Kid Cudi, Kyle Gallner, Kyle MacLachlan, Levon Hawke, Liz Caribel, m. night shyamalan, Madeline Weinstein, Marnie McPhail, Matthew Shear, Naomi Ackie, Nathan Silver, Robert Smigel, Saleka Shyamalan, Simon Rex, Spike Fearn, Strange Darling, Trap, Trew Mullen, Willa Fitzgerald, Zoë Kravitz Leave a comment

CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures (CREDIT: Screenshot)

I saw a bunch of movies in August 2024 that I haven’t released my full thoughts about yet, as it’s been too hot to say too much about any one movie. So I waited until September in the hopes that it would cool down at least a little bit and that I wouldn’t overheat from all this film analysis.

It Doesn’t Take a Conspiracy to Figure Out What Makes ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Tick

July 10, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Anna Garcia, Art Newkirk, Ashley Kings, Chad Crowe, Channing Tatum, Christian Zuber, Colin Wooddell, Donald Elise Watkins, Eva Pilar, Fly Me to the Moon, Greg Berlanti, Jesse Mueller, Jim Rash, Joe Chrest, Jonathan Orea Lopez, Lauren Revard, Melissa Litow, Nick Dillenburg, Noah Robbins, Ray Romano, Scarlett Johansson, Will Jacobs, Woody Harrelson 1 Comment

To the moon, Scarlett! (CREDIT: Dan McFadden/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Colin Wooddell, Christian Zuber, Nick Dillenburg, Joe Chrest, Art Newkirk, Ashley Kings, Jonathan Orea Lopez, Eva Pilar, Chad Crowe, Will Jacobs, Melissa Litow, Lauren Revard, Jesse Mueller

Director: Greg Berlanti

Running Time: 132 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Language and a Few Cigarettes

Release Date: July 12, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: To quote a certain iconic fictional extraterrestrial family, “Astronauts to the moon? Ha ha ha ha.” A lot of Americans felt the same way in the buildup to the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. In the years since John F. Kennedy’s promise of a manned lunar landing, the team at NASA is just as enthusiastic as ever about blasting off into space, if a little frustrated over a series of setbacks. But the general public is much more restless, so shady government figure Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) hires advertising genius Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) to fix the agency’s public image. She butts heads with the resolutely unflashy Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), who insists that the work should stand for itself. But that’s far from the biggest challenge, as Kelly is also tasked with shooting a fake moon landing as a backup in case they can’t get any usable footage from the real version.

What Made an Impression?: Don’t Worry!: Going into Fly Me to the Moon, I was more than a little concerned that this trifle of alterna-history was going to guilelessly perpetuate one of the most persistent conspiracy theories in American history. It looked clear enough to me that it wasn’t actually claiming that the moon landing was faked, but why play with fire? Fortunately, it ultimately pulls off the screwy trick of confirming that the landing was real while demonstrating how it could have been faked. I don’t expect the most resolutely conspiratorial among us to have their minds changed, but the message is nonetheless clear and on the side of the verified historical record.
Falling Madly in Love?: But what does it matter what’s even happening on the moon if we’re not falling in love back on Earth? Director Greg Berlanti and screenwriter Rose Gilroy certainly see things this way, as Fly Me to the Moon is really a throwback screwball workplace rom-com at heart. Weirdly enough, though, the main love story takes a lot of its cues from the decidedly un-screwball Mad Men, with Kelly serving as a distaff spin on Don Draper, right down to the invented identity backstory. The constant deception makes her romance with Cole much more agonizing than is typically advisable, although this whole routine is old hat for Johansson and Tatum at this point. However, I found myself more invested in the chemistry bubbling underneath the surface between Kelly’s second-in-command, defiantly feminist Ruby (Anna Garcia), and young and awkward NASA engineer Don (Noah Robbins, probably best known as Zach from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Overall, it adds up to a somewhat overlong, mostly pleasant diversion that also features bang-up supporting turns by a harried Jim Rash and a thoughtful Ray Romano.

Fly Me to the Moon is Recommended If You Like: Skinny ties, De-emphasizing Channing Tatum’s handsomeness, Playing the hits of the 60s

Grade: 3 out of 5 Rocket Cameras

Please! One More! Okay, But This is ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’

February 7, 2023

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Ayub Khan Din, Channing Tatum, Jemelia George, Juliette Motamed, Magic Mike, Magic Mike's Last Dance, Salma Hayek, Steven Soderbergh, Vicki Pepperine 1 Comment

(CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)

Starring: Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek, Ayub Khan Din, Juliette Motamed, Jemelia George, Vicki Pepperine

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R for Unstoppable Gyrations (with Permission)

Release Date: February 10, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: If Michael Jeffrey Lane stopped dancing, would there be any reason to make a movie about him anymore? I’d like to think so, but thankfully we haven’t had to face that possibility yet so far. Although, when we meet him at the beginning of Magic Mike’s Last Dance, he’s been out of the game for quite a while. Instead, he’s a gig worker serving bar at a generic fancy event, when he’s recognized by a satisfied customer from back in the day. Then word gets around to Max Mendoza (Salma Hayek, credited with her married name of “Pinault”), who hires for him a private dance. Then immediately afterwards she whisks him off to England to mount a live dance revue on a stuffy London stage. Max is basically using her obscene wealth to get back at her soon-to-be-ex-husband, but when the moves are this electric, who’s complaining?

What Made an Impression?: Magic Mike’s Last Dance kicks off with some narration that contextualizes Mike’s plight in the entire evolutionary history of dance. That voiceover comes courtesy of Jemelia George, who also plays Max’s over-it teenage daughter Zadie. We learn later that Zadie is writing a novel, so I then girded myself for the big reveal that Zadie was actually the author of Mike’s odyssey this whole time. Spoiler Alert: no such luck, but the narration is still plenty effective, offering a sort of grad school thesis-style framework. Channing Tatum’s piercing facial expressions can come across as empty in ungenerous interpretations, but with Zadie’s guidance, there’s no way not to see his journey as deeply yearning and humanistically profound.

Anyway, I’m sure everyone wants to know how much Tatum and Hayek sizzle up the screen together. And obviously they do, there’s no reason to worry about that. Mike and Max’s first encounter is the most brazenly sensual cinematic sequence I’ve seen since the last Magic Mike. For the rest of the movie, they settle into more of a sugar-and-spice odd couple routine, which is nice enough to move the whole thing along.

But obviously we’re all here for the grand finale. And let’s make no bones about it: Mike and his crew do not hold back. The staging is perfectly framed, the buildup gets all the right pieces together, and you can feel the crowd’s cheeky energy. Fascinatingly enough, I was most blown away by the emcee who introduces the dancers. She’s played by Juliette Motamed, who discovers untold delights in describing the fireworks shooting off around her. The pleasure is palpable, and there’s simply no reason to resist.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is Recommended If You Like: Leaving Every Last Inch of Yourself on the Stage

Grade: 4 out of 5 Thrusts

And You May Ask Yourself: What Awaits Us in ‘The Lost City’?

March 22, 2022

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, andra Bullock, Bowen Yang, Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Daniel Radcliffe, Oscar Nuñez, Patti Harrison, Raymond Lee, The Lost City 1 Comment

The Lost City (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Patti Harrison, Oscar Nuñez, Brad Pitt, Raymond Lee, Bowen Yang

Directors: Aaron and Adam Nee

Running Time: 112 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for A Few Bursts of Violence and Strategically Shot Nudity

Release Date: March 25, 2022 (Limited)

Should The Lost City be discovered, or should it remain lost? That is the question. Or maybe it’s not really the question, but I’ll nevertheless go ahead and ask it because I’d like to have something to focus this review around. And by bringing up the topic of focus, I don’t mean to imply that this film lacks focus. Far from it, in fact! You heard it here first, folks: this is a movie with a straightforward plot that’s easy to follow. Sandra Bullock plays Loretta Sage, a novelist who gets kidnapped and taken to a legendary location from her latest book, while Channing Tatum plays the ditzy cover model who attempts to rescue her, and eventually they make their way out the other end. It’s globe-trotting, high-stakes fun that’s designed to be oohed, ahhed, and laughed at. And I imagine that pretty dang close to 100% of audiences will know exactly when to provide those gasps and chuckles.

So if I have one big criticism about The Lost City, it’s that it’s perhaps a little too straightforward. I hoped for some charming repartee between Bullock and Tatum, as well as a full course of comic relief supporting performances from the likes of Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Patti Harrison, and Bowen Yang. And that’s exactly what I got! But not much more. There’s one surprising development early on involving one of the biggest stars, but afterwards I was left with a sense of, “Yes, that was an adventure.” Here’s the deal: if you’re going to cast Daniel Radcliffe as an eccentric billionaire villain, things should probably get unabashedly weird. Instead, they only get kind of weird. Who knows, maybe I was just infected by the malaise that Loretta was giving off by resenting her career and audience.

But here’s what stuck with me in a welcome way, and why The Lost City might just be worth tracking down. A showcase scene involves Bullock peeling leeches off Tatum after a jungle river swim, which necessitates him dropping trou to make sure she checks every crack and crevice. They keep it PG-13, but this is a classic case of survival-minded lack of modesty that keeps things rolling along. And then there’s an unforgettable performance from Oscar Nuñez (aka Oscar from The Office) as a guy who has a plane and a goat. It makes sense in context, or at least part of it does. And the rest that remained nonsensical is where I derived most of my joy from. So I guess my answer is: I’d like to find this titular city while still feeling like I’m at a loss.

The Lost City is Recommended If You Like: Sandra Bullock unexpectedly witnessing her male co-stars in the buff

Grade: 3 out of 5 Cover Models

‘Dog’ Review: Channing Tatum and His Four-Legged Friend Find Their Way Back

February 17, 2022

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Bill Burr, Channing Tatum, Dog, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Ethan Suplee, Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Luke Forbes, Nicole LaLiberte, Q’orianka Kilcher, Reid Carolin, Ronnie Gene Blevins 1 Comment

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Q’orianka Kilcher, Ethan Suplee, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bill Burr, Nicole LaLiberte, Luke Forbes, Ronnie Gene Blevins

Directors: Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin

Running Time: 90 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Veterans Struggling with Civilian Life

Release Date: February 18, 2022 (Theaters)

Dog is basically The Odyssey, but as if Odysseus’ crew were replaced by a military-trained Belgian Malinois named Lulu. She absolutely has to get to the funeral of the soldier who handled her, and Army Ranger Jackson Briggs (Channing Tatum) takes on the assignment to convince his superiors that he’s fit enough to head out on another tour of duty. So they trek down the Pacific Coast, and along the way they endure several tests of character and meet a fascinating array of folks. It’s a typical road trip buddy comedy of opposites who of course eventually realize that they’ve got more in common than they thought. They’re both experiencing PTSD after all, and they can be each other’s emotional support if they can just manage to open up.

At only an hour and a half long, you might expect Dog to have a fairly straightforward plot, but it’s actually a series of non-stop detours. As Jackson makes his first stop at a hipster bar in Portland and then finds himself in the throes of a tantric threesome, I found myself wondering what the heck was going on. That thought remained top of mind throughout, as the randomness of Jackson and Lulu’s excursions just kept pulling up. One day, they’re being held captive by a pot farmer who suspects espionage, and then soon after, Jackson’s impersonating a blind man to score a luxury hotel suite. When they end up at an encampment for unhoused people, I’m still wondering how they suddenly got to this point, but at least in this case the thematic resonance is immediately clear, considering the fate of too many veterans who are unable to find the support they need. Ultimately, much like the epics of yore, these vignettes do their best to paint a mythic panorama of the society we’re living in today.

Considering its subject matter and its pedigree, Dog has an appropriately shaggy disposition. It’s the directorial debut for both Tatum and Reid, who previously worked together on White House Down, 22 Jump Street, Logan Lucky, and both Magic Mike chapters. With this collaboration, they display plenty of empathy and patience, and in that spirit, Dog is worth warming up to. It’s not the most enthralling or life-changing experience at the multiplex today, but it’s got some tricks up its collar that can make you reconsider what it’s up to. Its happy ending is as formulaic as any platonic (pet-tonic?) rom-com in which it’s no surprise that Man and Mutt are going to fall for each other, but it’s endearing enough that you’re pleased when they do.

Dog is Recommended If You Like: Early 2010s Hipster-based comedy, A Carousel of Character Actor Cameos, Chew Toys

Grade: 3 out of 5 Dog

I Saw ‘Free Guy’ and Then ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ Immediately Afterwards: Here’s What Happened

August 15, 2021

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Brendan Sexton III, Channing Tatum, Don't Breathe 2, Free Guy, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Madelyn Grace, Rodo Sayagues, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, Stephen Lang, Taika Waititi, Utkarsh Ambudkar Leave a comment

CREDIT: Sony Pictures; 20th Century Studios/Screenshots

Free Guy:

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum

Director: Shawn Levy

Running Time: 115 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: August 13, 2021 (Theaters)

Don’t Breathe 2:

Starring: Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace, Brendan Sexton III

Director: Rodo Sayagues

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: August 13, 2021 (Theaters)

In Free Guy, good vibes beget more good vibes. When Guy the NPC gains self-awareness, he focuses on self-improvement, and that leads to all the other NPCs in Free City becoming better versions of themselves, and even some of the real people playing the game start to adopt a more positive view of the world. As it turns out, that tendency was in Guy’s programming all along. He’s got a fantastically complicated algorithm that allows for so many wondrous possibilities. It’s infectious, even for a Ryan Reynolds skeptic like me.

Contrast that with Don’t Breathe 2, in which hate begets more hate. The first Don’t Breathe effectively toyed with our sympathies regarding Stephen Lang’s blind Norman; the sequel tries to do the same, but his negative characteristics are a bit too overwhelming to fully root for him. (Also, his blindness isn’t utilized to the same thrilling effect.) Furthermore, the people who target him this time around have a sympathetic reason for doing so, but basically every action they take in the name of their mission is pretty despicable. At least the young girl isn’t similarly hate-filled – there’s no Bad Seed vibes here. But otherwise, the blood and the pain just pile up and pile up.

GRADES:
Free Guy: 4 out of 5 Skins
Don’t Breathe 2: 2 out of 5 Light Switches

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Smallfoot’ is a Bighearted, Non-Abominable Delight

September 28, 2018

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Abominable Snowman, Channing Tatum, Common, Danny DeVito, Gina Rodriguez, James Corden, Karey Kirkpatrick, LeBron James, Smallfoot, Yara Shahidi, Yeti, Zendaya 2 Comments

CREDIT: Warner Bros. Animation

This review was originally publshed on News Cult in September 2018.

Starring: Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Danny DeVito, Yara Shahidi

Director: Karey Kirkpatrick

Running Time: 96 Minutes

Rating: PG for Falling Thousands of Feet with Few Lasting Consequences

Release Date: September 28, 2018

A surefire formula in storytelling is the whole ol’ switcheroo. Taking a timeworn trope and turning its perspective inside out has proven to be valuable on many occasions. Smallfoot runs with that idea, getting a lot of mileage out of reversing its approach to a common myth. It does not just presuppose a world in which Yeti do exist, but one in which there is an entire race of them with their own advanced society. Furthermore, to the Yeti, the existence of humans is the stuff of legends, thus the moniker of the mythical “Smallfoot.” It’s not the most profound premise, but it’s delightful enough to tickle those in the mood for wonder.

It all comes down to, as so many of these animated jaunts do, an interspecies friendship. Migo (Channing Tatum) is a Yeti on the verge of taking on some adult Yeti responsibility when his world rocked by the appearance of a creature with a less-than-gigantic footprint. He proceeds to venture down below the clouds to find the truth behind this encounter, which is when his path crosses with Percy Patterson (James Corden), a nature TV host desperate to restore his popularity. Both man and beast can speak intelligently, but Migo’s words sound like growls to Percy, and Percy’s sound like squeaks to Migo. Yet somehow a connection is forged, and the repartee is quite charming from Tatum and Corden, as well as Zendaya as a fellow Yeti who is especially enthusiastic about the existence of Smallfoots. Providing the ominous (but also unnervingly wise) counterpoint is Common as the Stonekeeper, a Yeti elder who knows the reality of Yeti-human history but propagates an elaborate mythology designed to prevent the truth from being exposed.

As you might guess based on its genre and some of its cast members, Smallfoot is a musical, which I found to be a tad exhausting. To be fair, that is my typical reaction to musicals, what with their inherently overly dramatic manipulation of emotions, and Smallfoot‘s songs do not do much to change my mind. But there is one number rapped by Common that wonderfully reveals the foundation of Yeti society and serves as the crux of the film. The tension driving the best moments of Smallfoot are all about being lost (or not quite lost) in translation. The fear and anticipation mixed up by this inherent confusion leads to a bunch of hijinks and a lot of intrigue and ultimately an attempt at peace and integration that offers hope that this motley world can make it with all of its mixed-up parts working together.

Smallfoot is Recommended If You Like: The search for Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman, Happy Feet, Storks

Grade: 3 out of 5 Footprints

This Is a Movie Review: Kingsman: The Golden Circle

September 29, 2017

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Bruce Greenwood, Channing Tatum, Colin Firth, Edward Holcroft, Elton John, Emily Watson, Halle Berry, Hanna Alström, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Kingsman, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Mark Strong, Matthew Vaughn, Pedro Pascal, Poppy Delevingne, Taron Egerton Leave a comment

CREDIT: Giles Keyte/Twentieth Century Fox

The Golden Circle is just as exciting as the first Kingsman, and it features a hell of a villainous turn from Julianne Moore. Its attitude is a bit arch, and it often pretends that it isn’t, but that isn’t a huge deal when the action is assembled impressively and the humor does let loose often enough. But ultimately while these flicks are fun, I find it hard to embrace them fully. There is just something weirdly insidious about their politics (or something like politics). It may not even be intentional, but intentional or not, it does unnerve me. I could have forgiven all that if Channing had danced more. Why didn’t Channing dance more?

I give Kingsman: The Golden Circle 2 Cannibal Burgers out of 3 Butterfly Effects.

This Is a Movie Review: Steven Soderbergh and the ‘Logan Lucky’ Crew Pull Off a Heist at the Biggest Race of the Year

August 18, 2017

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Adam Driver, Brian Gleeson, Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, Dwight Yoakam, Hilary Swank, Jack Quaid, Katherine Waterston, Katie Holmes, Logan Lucky, Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane, Steven Soderbergh 2 Comments

Credit: Claudette Barius / Fingerprint Releasing | Bleecker Street

This review was originally published on News Cult in August 2017.

Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, Dwight Yoakam, Seth MacFarlane, Jack Quaid, Brian Gleeson, Katherine Waterston, Hilary Swank

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 119 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Improvised Explosives and Slapstick Violence, Often Involving a Prosthetic

Release Date: August 18, 2017

If you follow the sports world, you will have noticed lately the several examples of the wonders that taking significant time off does towards extending a career. Roger Federer and Serena Williams, perhaps the two greatest tennis players of all time, have taken months-long breaks and at ages 36 and 35, respectively (ancient by athletic standards), they are still somehow in the primes of their careers. The physicality of sports and filmmaking are not exactly the same, but both can be similarly taxing. So while it is right to question the accuracy of Steven Soderbergh’s claim that he was retiring from directing, it is not right to question the wisdom of what he was actually doing, i.e., taking a nice, long, relaxing break, as Logan Lucky is the type of film that you make only when you are bursting with energy.

Logan is Soderbergh’s first directorial effort since 2013’s Side Effects and the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, but in premise, it most obviously brings to mind his Ocean’s trilogy. Recently unemployed West Virginia coal miner Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) recruits his one-armed Iraq War vet bartender brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and hairdresser sister Mellie (Riley Keough), along with incarcerated bleached-blonde demolitions expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) and Joe’s supposed computer expert brothers Fish (Jack Quaid) and Sam (Brian Gleeson), to rob the cash deposits at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600, the longest annual race on the NASCAR calendar. So it is basically a hillbilly Ocean’s 11 (Logan’s 6, if you will), and that connection is referenced head-on with a sneakily well-timed joke. Now, don’t let that description fool you into thinking that this film looks down on the people that populate it. Its particular strength is how thoroughly and empathetically each character is rendered, despite their colorful personalities offering an easy temptation for stereotypes.

Accordingly, every actor is given plenty of opportunities to stretch, with Soderbergh guiding them along to their best instincts. Keough shines in her accounting of the West Virginia highway system, Driver is wholly convincing with his unassuming one-armed bartending prowess, Seth MacFarlane is Snidely Whiplash-levels ridiculous as a luxuriously coiffed, arrogant driver, Farrah Mackenzie (as Jimmy’s young daughter Sadie) charms enough to somehow make pageant culture a little less nauseating than usual, and when Special Agent Hilary Swank shows up, she makes an all-business demeanor just as much fun as criminality. But the biggest praise is rightfully reserved for Craig, who is delightfully unhinged in the friendliest way possible, as well as Dwight Yoakam, as a warden whose loss of control of his prison amazingly involves the most hilarious taking to task of George R.R. Martin I have ever witnessed.

The conflict of heist movies is such that their cool vibes always goad you into rooting for the criminals. While these robbers typically are not violent, and often target the most powerful and greediest, they are in fact still criminals. The fact that these are just movies should be enough to remove any feelings of moral crisis. But in case you want more than that, there is a Robin Hood-style resolution. Your mileage may vary on what that means in terms of ethical implications, but there is no doubt that it contributes to the good vibes.

Logan Lucky is Recommended If You Like: Heist Films, Southern-Fried Flavor, Feeling Pumped When You Walk Out of the Theater

Grade: 4 out of 5 Painted Cockroaches

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