rembrandtswife:

Not feeling well today, so I took a sick day. Watching Logan Lucky a second time seemed like just the thing to do.

I bought the movie in digital last week when I got my state tax refund. I knew already that I wanted to watch it again because I hadn’t really stopped thinking about it since I saw it. That was something worth paying attention to: That I wanted to re-watch a movie with no space ships, no robots, no superheroes, and no naked men (though we do get a little fanservice from Daniel Craig doing pushups).

So my thoughts on a second viewing:

• This is a very carefully and tightly plotted movie. I admit that even after five seasons of Leverage, I don’t follow heist stories very well, but I don’t think any loose ends were left flapping. And the screenplay was written by a woman.
• There is not a single character in this story who is not significant. The other two Bang brothers, Max Chilblain the millionaire, Dayton White the race car driver, Gleema Purdue the bank lady, the two cops at the motorway, everyone matters.
• I applaud Sebastian Stan for delivering his utterly ridiculous lines with calm self-confidence.
• The narrative plays with and plays against stereotypes of West Virginians, Southerners, blue-collar white folks in interesting ways. If the junior Bangs (one of whom is played by an Irish actor) epitomize the slack-jawed yokel, Joe Bang explodes the stereotype and crushes the remains underfoot when he explains the chemical formula behind his explosive, writing it on the wall like a professor at a blackboard. (Though this is the one scene where Daniel Craig’s accent slips a little.)
• It plays against expectations with Jimmy’s daughter and her mom, too. Little Sadie is involved in the beauty pageant scene, but it’s never presented as grotesque. Her mother, Jimmy’s ex, is occasionally bitchy, but not a bitch. Her second husband is a decent guy. The reasons why he is fairly successful and Jimmy has had a hard time making ends meet are obvious in the culture they live in and have nothing to do with how intelligent or ambitious they are individually.
• The fake prison riot had me laughing breathlessly again, and Sadie’s final pageant performance made me tear up again.

I sincerely love this movie, and not just because of one actor. It’s really worth seeing.