Film Review: "Logan Lucky" (2017).

From the director of Ocean's 11, 12, 13, and Magic Mike comes Logan Lucky. This heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh, and written by Rebecca Blunt. This is Soderbergh's first film since his announcement from directing. Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Behind the Candelabra (2013), was intended to be Soderbergh's final directorial effort in film. Soderbergh has said that he was initially given the script of Logan Lucky in hopes that he could recommend a suitable director for the project, but that he enjoyed reading the script and decided to comet of retirement and take it on for himself. At the time Soderbergh was also theorizing a new distribution model and felt that the script gave him the perfect opportunity to do so. Thus the film was distributed independently through his own company Fingerprint Releasing. In February 2016, the film was announced along with the announcement of Channing Tatum's casting. Between May and August, much of the rest of the cast was announced, among them: Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Sebastian Stan, Hilary Swank, and Jim O'Heir. In August, filming began and lasted 36 days. Much of the production took place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway during the NASCAR race meetings at both circuits. There has been speculation regarding the identity of the film's screenwriter, Rebecca Blunt. The film's production notes state that she is a native of Logan, West Virginia who now lives in New York City, and that she is a first-time screenwriter. No-one other than Soderbergh and Adam Driver has personally vouched for her existence. Some people involved with the film have exchanged emails with a person they believed to be her, and believe that she lives in the United Kingdom. Sources speculated that "Rebecca Blunt" was actually a pseudonym for Soderbergh's wife Jules Asner, for comedian John Henson, or for Soderbergh himself. According to The Playlist, Jules Asner was the sole screenwriter and chose to use a pseudonym because she didn't want the 'story' of the film to be that "Soderbergh was directing his wife's script."

The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Tatum, Driver, Keough, Craig, MacFarlane, Holmes, Waterston, Sebastian Stan, and Swank. The cast gave terrific performances that were just as outrageous, larger-than-life, and human as you would expect from a Soderbergh film. Extra kudos goes to Craig who stole the show from the first moment his character entered the screen.

Logan Lucky is an entertaining witty, funny, and well acted piece of comedy heist. It was pure entertainment from start to finish - a fun-loving, carefully crafted romp. It bounces along with finger-snapping high spirits. It can, at times, be forgettable in a fun way, especially when its funniest performers are caught in Soderbergh's spinning crosshairs. Soderbergh, throughout his career, has made deeper films, however this carefree caper movie is nothing to sneeze at.

Simon says Logan Lucky receives: