Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum, Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street) has been having some rough times lately. Getting divorced and getting behind on bills is stressful enough, but when he loses his job, he gets desperate and decides to enact a plan he had cooked up some time ago and had never acted on: a heist at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. As it turns out, through his construction job, Jimmy learned that all of the money processed at this mega raceway all goes through pneumatic tubes into a vault... right next to the construction site he's been working in. He simply needs to get some help, get in, and vacuum the money out of the vault.
First, however, he has to convince his younger brother, Clyde (Adam Driver, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), to help him, which could take some effort, as Clyde is convinced that the Logan family is cursed. On one hand, they could definitely use the money, but on the other hand... oh, wait... Clyde is missing the other hand, due to the curse, as he tells it. Jimmy, however, doesn't believe in curses. That's why he's put so much effort into planning the heist; he believes you make your own luck. They'll need to convince their sister, Mellie (Riley Keough, Mad Max: Fury Road), but that shouldn't be too difficult. They'll also need an demolition expert to handle a small explosion to allow them to get the vacuum hose in place. Luckily, they know a guy: Joe Bang (Daniel Craig, Skyfall). Unluckily, he happens to be in-car-cer-ra-ted at the moment and due to get out soon... but not soon enough. So, instead of merely breaking in and out of the speedway, they'll also need to break Joe Bang out of jail and sneak him back in, all in the same day and without anyone noticing. Oh, and they'll need some additional help. Thank goodness Joe has a couple of brothers who can help out... as long as they have a righteous reason to commit the crime, seeing as they've turned over a new leaf. This just keeps getting more ridiculous, doesn't it?
Jimmy's plan seems like it's laid out well, complete with reminders to expect the unexpected. However, one thing he and Clyde didn't expect was to run into the annoying and full-of-himself energy drink evangelist / NASCAR sponsor Max Chilblain (Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy, American Dad, The Orville) at the speedway after having a very up-close, personal and, um, memorable altercation with him at Clyde's bar. To get out of this, they'll have to be more than just lucky... they'll have to be Logan Lucky.
The acting was well done, bringing an odd caper full of quirky characters to life in a story that's unbelievable, but believable enough to keep you watching, in much the way that you'll keep listening to a fisherman's tall tale about the one that got away because it's highly entertaining, if not likely. I especially enjoyed Daniel Craig as Joe Bang, about as much of an antithesis to James Bond as you could hope to see. Also, while not a member of the heist team, I really enjoyed Seth MacFarlane as Max Chilblain.
If you're a fan of heists, capers and, perhaps, NASCAR, check out Logan Lucky. It starts out looking like a bunch of hillbillies trying to rob a construction site, then as the story unfolds, becomes more worthy of its Oceans' heritage. By the end of your first watch, you'll be rethinking things and wanting to watch it again, as it the plan goes from "purty smart" to downright genius.
