Bet "The House" on "Logan Lucky": A Comedy Double-Header

Halloo!

I'd like to talk about some comedies I've watched recently.

It has been a very long while since I compared two films side-by-side.  Let's go for it!

Today's comedy contenders:

"The House" (2017)

"Logan Lucky" (2017)

Husband and I have established a tradition of eating a nice dinner and seeing a movie on Fridays to cap off the work week.  When we are particularly vulnerable to the siren song of the comforts of home, we rent or stream movies instead of heading to a theater.  Both of these movies are among the proud pantheon of films we watched from home.

So first: "The House".

This was the perfect movie to watch at the end of a very long work day.  It is not an intellectually challenging movie--in fact, the plot borders on being almost non-existent, such is the infinitesimal exposition or transition between different events.  At one point, characters travel instantly between Las Vegas and home--so abruptly that it's as if they teleported--despite the underlying premise that everyone is broke.... and actually, it is so unclear where exactly the characters live that I'm not even sure if that trip warranted the travel montage it did not receive.  See what I mean about the lack of plot development?  Really, the plot is just a bubble-gum-and-popsicle-sticks scaffolding to hold together a bunch of silly bits in which the cast can play.



Happily for "The House," the cast is so packed with comedic actors that there is a lot of room for silliness.  Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell play Kate and Scott Johansen, parents who, despite living in a suspiciously nice house in "the tri-state area", have failed to save a cent for their only child's college education. 

That back yard patio sure is nice for a family that is apparently destitute?

They partner up with their friend Frank, played by Jason Mantzoukas, and launch an illegal casino from Frank's home in an effort to quickly generate a college education's worth of cash (plus some extra money so Frank can win back his wife). 

Nick Kroll plays Bob, a scheming city official, with ever-convincing sketchitude.  A host of other recognizable-from-funny-stuff-you've-probably-seen people are featured, including Lennon Parham (from "Veep"), Michaela Watkins (from "Transparent"), Cedric Yarbrough (from "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"), and Rob Huebel and Andy Buckley (from "The Office").

With such a full house (see what I did there?) of comedic talent, there are not surprisingly some genuine laughs in "The House".  Most of them derive from the genuine fun chemistry between Poehler and Ferrell, who wrangle trying to assume the roles of badass illegal casino owners with increasing adorable goofiness.



That being said, by the latter half of the film, it started to feel more reminiscent of a film like "Masterminds" (2016), where I appreciate that it is a film that exists so I can bemusedly tune out whilst tired from a long work day, but I am also kind of surprised that it is a film that exists because it is so aggressively okay.

Alternatively, consider: "Logan Lucky".

This film features yet another packed cast, including Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as the titular brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston (who was maybe the only good thing about "Alien: Covenant" (2017)), David Denman (another "Office" alum), Riley Keough, and an absolutely delightful Farrah Mackenzie playing Jimmy's daughter Sadie. 

We all know I find Channing Tatum to be an absolute goddamn national treasure, but I was concerned about the possibly distracting sullen influence of Adam Driver--only to have my concerns completely dispelled by yet another example of great on-screen chemistry.  In fact, "Logan Lucky" is a hit parade of things I didn't think would work, yet worked exceedingly well.

Included in this list:

--Daniel Craig as a heavily tattooed bomb-engeering prisoner in the deep South.

--A cute and charming (but not TOO cute and charming) daddy-daughter relationship between Jimmy and Sadie.

--A movie about stuff that happens in the South... but is NOT excruciatingly packed with cliché sexism.  There are threatened whiffs of it--mostly perpetrated by Moody Chapman, as portrayed by the basically-always-playing-a-sketchy-character Denman--but Keough's Mellie Logan shuts them down with satisfying deftness.  (I wonder if this might be due to the refreshing influence of the film's presumably female but possibly fictitious(??!) writer, Rebecca Blunt.)

--A heist movie, because, with few exceptions, I normally just can't care less about those.

Honestly, one of the only things that doesn't work is Seth MacFarlane's performance as Max Chilblain, an inexplicably British NASCAR driver?/team owner? with a TERRIBLE-wig-and-moustache-combo and a terrible accent to go match.  It's not as if MacFarlane is known for his nuance, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that his performance sticks out in what is otherwise a pretty masterfully woven tapestry of characters.

But why.

One aspect of "Logan Lucky" that could not stand in starker contrast to "The House" is the complexity and thoughtfulness of the plot.  Very much like director Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven and Other Integers" (2001 - anticipated in 2018), if you blink, you'll miss the tiny details that explain why an intricate heist actually gets pulled off.  However, to me the major turn-off of the integer'd cops and robbers movies is that everyone is so smug, polished, and evidently already doing financially okay.  I don't feel any need to root for sociopaths who are stealing for sport, not need.

This is why, for me at least, "Logan Lucky" works so well.  As you watch Jimmy limp away after being fired from his construction job because his old football injury is a "liability," it's hard not to feel an empathic ache and wish that the brothers could break Clyde's theorized Logan Curse.  Watching them earn the title of their movie, especially with grit and resourcefulness their smoother Ocean's counterparts don't need to rely on, is therefore that much more satisfying.

To add to what is already a pretty great movie, there are lots of great moments of surprise and humor.  I had an audio clip of Jimmy proclaiming, "I looked it up on the Google" in the most entertaining, bouncy Southern drawl for at least a day or two after watching.  Watching all the set pieces coalesce into a pretty remarkable heist is a genuinely fun thrill.

So, while you definitely need to be a bit more alert to fully enjoy "Logan Lucky" compared to "The House", the fight between these two films is pretty unfair.

In conclusion, the scores I gave these two films were:

"The House" (2)

"Logan Lucky" (4.5)

{Heart}