Logan Lucky * * * * 1/2

 I’m glad that director Steven Soderbergh's retirement was short.  I’ve always considered him one of America’s finest, and this return proves it.

Joe Bang explains incarceration 
to the Logan brothers.

      The script has a questionable author - Rebecca Blunt, who no one has heard of.  The suspicion is that Soderbergh himself is Blunt.  Soderberg has often said in interviews that the idea of being the celebrated auteur does not appeal to him, so sharing the glory with fictitious characters seems to help. Personally I think most people would want to grab the glory for this funny, witty, script packed with smart dialogue.

      Logan Lucky is  a fun caper/heist film featuring an unglamorous collection of characters who band together to rob the takings of a NASCAR speed track.  Its an audacious plan but as we watch what they're’ going to do and how they're going to do it, it actually makes a lot of sense. We find ourselves nodding - “yep you could do that”.  Which means we’re as dumb as they are, or they’re smarter than they look.

     One has got a bung leg, his brother has got a missing arm, they've got a pretty sister who is in on it too as a driver and distracter.  Then there are a couple of semi literate hillbillies, and another player who is in jail which is rather inconvenient.  He’s a premium safe cracker, but that’s another fun part of the plot. They need to get him out of the can to do the job, then put him back in  again.  Ultimate alibi.

       It’s a fast funny film where the actors seem to be having a ball playing their respective characters - especially Daniel Craig as Joe Bang the jailbird.  But he’s not the only highlight in this star-studded, but well cast, film which also features, Adam Driver, Channing Tatum and Katie Holmes.  And the whole thing is set in West Virginia with accents to boot.