Steven Soderbergh never misses, but the Ocean Elf The director has rarely been as precise as in his underrated 2017 comedy Logan Happywhich is now available on Netflix. Sure, Logan Happy is a very entertaining heist film, but its best feature is the comedy, which has aged like fine wine. Virtually every joke and decision in the film has gotten better with age, including a Game of Thrones But this is one of the funniest scenes of the 2010s.
The film stars a pair of redneck (complimentary) brothers, played by Channing Tatum and Adam Driver. This is the first moment of Soderbergh’s genius in Logan HappyEveryone knows Tatum can do comedy — it’s been his main occupation since 21 Jumpstraat – But Logan Happy remains the only time in Driver’s career that he is given a straight-up comedy (rather than a drama), based on a script that does justice to his enormous talents.
Everything Driver does and says in this film is hilarious. His slow, drawling accent allows him to expand even the shortest words into sentences of their own, stringing each syllable together in a way that can’t help but elicit laughs. Every ounce of the performance is pure genius, and the fact that Soderbergh is the only filmmaker to recognize Driver’s comedic talents is both a compliment to him as a director and a goddamn shame to all of us.
The story largely revolves around the brothers’ attempt to pull off a heist at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which requires precise timing, an elaborate prison break, a bit of deception, and of course, the perfect team for the job.
Of course, Driver isn’t the only movie star Soderbergh realized he might have a little fun playing a Southern character. Two years before Rian Johnson cast him as a detective in Knives outDaniel Craig played Joe Bang in Logan Happya temperamental demolition expert with a nose for explosives and a voice like Foghorn Leghorn. Looking at it now, you’d almost believe this was a Knives out spinoff that sees Benoit Blanc conducting an undercover investigation in the most ridiculous disguise imaginable, but instead it’s just another example of Soderbergh recognizing comedic greatness a few years before the rest.
All of these elements culminate in an absolute showstopper scene during a staged prison riot, in which the prisoners present their demands to the warden and his staff after locking themselves in the security office. One of the prisoners’ demands is that the warden produce a copy of George R. R. Martin’s The winds of winterWhen the guard says he cannot meet that specific demand, pandemonium ensues as the inmates simply cannot believe that Martin would not have delivered his book in the time frame he originally promised his publishers.
It’s a long, winding diversion that has almost nothing to do with the film, but is hilarious nonetheless. And like everything else in the film, it’s a joke that only gets better with age. Maybe, hopefully, someday it will feel like a reminder of what the long wait for the next A Song of Ice and Fire book felt like, but for now, more than 13 years after the release of A dance with dragonsIt’s the kind of joke that has held onto its punchline for so long that it now feels more hilarious than originally intended. The Prisoners Are right; the then six-year waiting period for The winds of winter was ridiculous in 2017. But imagine how they would feel now, after having to wait more than twice as long?
Fortunately, while we are still waiting for The winds of winter —and probably long after it’s released, if that’s the case ever happens – you can always just give Logan Happy a watch that reminds you what it’s like to be ahead instead of far behind.