a LOGAN LUCKY musing

Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Daniel Craig star.

Channing Tatum continues to pick projects that let him show off his improved acting skills as the main lead in LOGAN LUCKY. The Logan siblings (also played by a wonderful Adam Driver and Riley Keough), seemingly cursed, attempt to reverse the curse by completing a robbery during a major NASCAR race. They enlist the Bang brothers (oh, I get it now…), led by Daniel Craig, to help in the heist. The ensemble cast gets to be extra goofy in this hilarious and enthralling caper that sometimes gets to be a little too smart for its own good at times.

LUCKY draws parallels to Soderbergh’s 2001 film OCEAN’S ELEVEN, where professional robbers come up with a brilliant plan to steal money from a casino. It’s easier to buy that group getting away in the end and being able to improvise on the spot when something goes wrong because of their experience. In LUCKY, a certain character thinks way, way ahead of everyone else, and it becomes hard to believe that a simple-seeming person like that could think of every twist and turn. I get that that character is just unlucky and cursed, but it just didn’t work for me in the grand scheme of things. The plan gets a little too convenient too, but these things are easier to ignore because the movie is just so damn fun!

LOGAN LUCKY is a great, capable caper that really makes you care for these wacky characters. Each character has their own weird quirk, and Driver and Tatum excel at capitalizing on theirs and letting it inform their character more. Craig, our current James Bond, gets to play Southern and has way too much fun playing crazy. The brilliant plotting can get too smart for itself, but LUCKY is overall a great time.

RATING: GOING IN MY BLU-RAY COLLECTION

(Refer to my rating system HERE!)