DVD Review: Logan Lucky

STUDIO: Universal | DIRECTOR: Steven Soderbergh | CAST: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Sebastian Stan, Brian Gleeson, Jack Quaid
RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 2017 | PRICE: DVD $17.96, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $17.96, 4K Ultra HD $22.96
BONUSES: deleted scenes
SPECS: PG-13 | 118 min. | Comedy crime drama | 2.40:1 widescreen | DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1/Dolby Digital 5.1 | English, Spanish and French subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie  | Audio | Video  | Overall

Director Steven Soderbergh’s (Traffic) return to feature filmmaking after a four-year self-imposed hiatus, Logan Lucky is a homespun heist movie, a Red State Oceans 11.

Unemployed construction worker Jimmy (Channing Tatum, White House Down) and bartender brother Clyde (a one-armed Adam Driver of Paterson)   team up to pull off a daring heist: robbing the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which, through a miscalculation, turns out to be during a major Memorial Day race. Joining them in their crime are an imprisoned demolitions expert (a blonde, buzz-cutted Daniel Craig, Spectre) who they have to break out of prison and his two goofy brothers (Brian Gleeson, Assassin’s Creed and Jack Quaid, Running Wild). Adding to this unusual mix is Jimmy’s ex-wife (Katie Holmes, Touched with Fire),  a nurse who takes a liking to Jimmy (Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice), Jimmy’s getaway  driver sister (Riley Keough, American Honey)  and a dogged FBI agent (Hilary Swank, The Resident).

The cast is certainly game in Logan Lucky, but the film never hits on all cylinders despite the A-list talent aboard. An overly complicated plot and below-the-Mason-Dixon-line references that aren’t really funny or insightful are what weigh down a film that should be more involving and entertaining. Still, it’s good to have Soderbergh– who also shot the film and may have wrote it under the alias “Rebecca Blunt”–back in the directorial driver seat. An okay $28 million at the box-office was less than expected but, based on name recognition alone, Logan Lucky is poised to draw lots of attention at the finish line on the home market.