As long as I'm on a Soderbergh kick, I decided to check out
"Logan Lucky" (Hulu).
The premise is...and I'm not kidding here...what if you made "Ocean's Eleven", but with hillbillies?
Not that a good film couldn't be made along those lines, but sadly this isn't it. Normally I like Soderbergh's stuff, but this just comes across as something that doesn't know whether it wants to provide fan service to good ol' boys, or be a parody of them.
The two guys on the floor, Channing Tatum and Adam Driver, are planning to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Already known as losers, their plans are going to be a definitely low-tech affair.
Things pick up when they decide to break out a jailed criminal. Daniel Craig, blonde-haired and southern-accented as in "Knives Out", is a delight.
Certain things, though, are just silly. Craig's character is an explosives expert. His name? I mean,
real name, not nickname? Joe Bang. We know this is his real name because he has two brothers with the same surname. O-o-o-okay. There's a scene where Tatum's daughter, perversely dolled up like a tiny hooker, belts out an absolutely
awful version of "Take Me Home, Country Roads". I don't mean just off-key, I mean
ridiculously bad. I don't think it's meant to be parody, but that's the way it comes across.
The movie has a lot of good reviews, so I'll allow that maybe I'm just prejudiced against good ol' boys in general, but if southerners object to the way they are portrayed in this movie, I'd say I can't blame them. And if they find it accurate, well then, I feel sorry for them.