I’m a massive sucker for con or heist movies. That big reveal at the end always has me salivating, driven solely by my need to figure out how they pulled it off. So when I saw a new con movie and it starred Adam Drive, I was screaming.
Okay… to be totally honest, I didn’t even know the movie exists until a friend mentioned it and said that I needed to watch it.
This is why I have movie friends.
So what is Logan Lucky? Have you even heard about it before? Well good news. It’s on Amazon Prime. No need to beat yourself up about missing an Adam Driver movie. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I’ve missed a few of them myself. Like the zombie movie he was in last year. What?!?!?! Send help. I need to watch all of these movies.
Back to the review.
Logan Lucky is about a family known for their bad luck. When Jimmy’s ex-wife threatens to take their daughter to the other side of the state, he suddenly needs to find himself a lawyer. But just being laid off means the money has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is their local race track. Through a series of complicated endeavors, the two brothers attempt to pull off a con to get them somewhere new in life.
The movie is based in West Virginia, so these are not your slick con men from Oceans 11 and they weren’t played that way either. The tools these two brothers had were used to the fullest but never anything more. It was all believable. And when I thought the end was near, that they had done it all for not, a lovely twist was added - as required by all con movies. I don’t know how I didn’t see it coming.
With its all star cast, I’m surprised that Logan Lucky slipped through the cracks. I’ve never heard a single person mention it before my friend. I mean we have Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig. Who misses these people?
Maybe my lack of words in this review is a good enough example of how good the movie was. There were no glaringly obvious reasons not to enjoy watching it. The writing was even tempered, the comedy perfect to make me laugh, and the con exactly what I would expect. Nothing flew above or below the radar. If they were trying for something different, then they did miss the mark because it was your typical story of a dad barely getting by when the wife remarries someone rich and wants to take their daughter somewhere else. It may seem mainstream but the whole movie had that average mainstream feel.
And nothing I said should be used as a reason to not see the movie. I enjoyed the entire two hours. I enjoyed it so much I might even rewatch the thing to study it. It’s a beautiful example of simplistic writing done well. Textbook almost. The characters had just enough development to make them interesting fully formed people. And if you’re still trying to learn the queues in script writing it might just be a fine example.
So ya… If you need a “free” movie to get you through COVID-19, or if you’re a massive Adam Driver fan like me, I would definitely give this little gem a watch.
Happy Watching
Love Kait