The Laundromat (C- or 1.5/4 stars)
In the mood for a satirical expose of financial corruption? Well. I sorta was. But after watching Steven Soderbergh's 'The Laundromat'... I wish I wasn't hankering for it in the 1st place. Based (mostly) on a true story, we are introduced early on to the complicated intricacies of $$ by way of German investment banker, Jurgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) & Panamanian lawyer, Ramon Fonseca (Antonio Banderas); who founded the Panama City investment firm which bears their names. They serve as our unprincipled, seductive, patronizing hosts; breaking the 4th wall throughout the proceedings.
Our main character is Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep), who took an ill-fated sightseeing tour on Lake George, NY, with her husband (James Cromwell). When a rogue wave strikes their tour boat and it capsizes, 20+ people drown. Survivors soon find that they are never going to get the wrongful death insurance payoff to which they are entitled. Why is that, you ask? Because the tour's insurance company based in Houston, Texas, was sold to a re-insurance firm that was held in trust by a larger banking entity in Nevis {a Caribbean isle near St. Kitts} -- difficult to follow all of that, yes? So Ellen goes on a global quest to track down how she was frauded. Her search brings her to a Panama law firm that aids the wealthy.
See, Nevis is notorious for harboring 100s of what they call 'shell companies' {businesses without offices or employees that are used for tax evasion/avoidance & anonymity. Oddly enough, this blatant financial maneuvering is actually legal; even in some united states & many countries. All the while, the daughter of a corrupt African billionaire (Nonso Anozie) discovers he is having an affair with her college roommate. To avoid discord, he offers her a bribe: ownership of a $20,000,000 corporation, which, of course, turns out to be another of those shell companies. And a British money launderer (Matthias Schoenaerts) tries to persuade a Chinese client (Rosaline Chao) to negotiate a sleazy deal with which she's clearly uncomfortable.
This film starts out strong enough. The initial Streep segment in Lake George - and then in Las Vegas - is quite good. And there are amusing bits. But boy, did things disintegrate for me. I found most of the proceedings to be uninteresting, convoluted, self-satisfied & kinda gross. When I say uninteresting, I mean: I couldn't care less about Soderbergh's failed effort to educate us viewers on dry matters of $$ manipulation. And unlike similarly themed films such as Moneyball, The Wolf of Wall Street, or even The Big Short ... 'The Laundromat' is about as funny as a graveyard. Instead, Soderbergh has his characters break the 4th wall - including Streep in the film's final moments - to explain what's going on, while also beckoning we, the people, to not shirk responsibilities by not reporting corruption when seen. Ugh.
The cast - including Streep, Oldman, Banderas, Wright, including a nice little cameo from Sharon Stone - do what they can {odd accents, bad make-up, and all}, but they're not the problem. I just found Soderbergh's stylized life lesson about money laundering and how the rich & powerful manipulate into leaving less fortunate people in the lurch to be ... incredible dull. This is all such dry, complicated subject matter. And the movie ends on a righteous note that both doesn't feel earned AND is fitfully irksome with respect to what we just watched for 98 preachy minutes. With tonal inconsistencies & an off-putting 'like me, I'm an important movie!' vibe throughout, 'The Laundromat' ended up being a tedious mess of a film, for me.
Our main character is Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep), who took an ill-fated sightseeing tour on Lake George, NY, with her husband (James Cromwell). When a rogue wave strikes their tour boat and it capsizes, 20+ people drown. Survivors soon find that they are never going to get the wrongful death insurance payoff to which they are entitled. Why is that, you ask? Because the tour's insurance company based in Houston, Texas, was sold to a re-insurance firm that was held in trust by a larger banking entity in Nevis {a Caribbean isle near St. Kitts} -- difficult to follow all of that, yes? So Ellen goes on a global quest to track down how she was frauded. Her search brings her to a Panama law firm that aids the wealthy.
See, Nevis is notorious for harboring 100s of what they call 'shell companies' {businesses without offices or employees that are used for tax evasion/avoidance & anonymity. Oddly enough, this blatant financial maneuvering is actually legal; even in some united states & many countries. All the while, the daughter of a corrupt African billionaire (Nonso Anozie) discovers he is having an affair with her college roommate. To avoid discord, he offers her a bribe: ownership of a $20,000,000 corporation, which, of course, turns out to be another of those shell companies. And a British money launderer (Matthias Schoenaerts) tries to persuade a Chinese client (Rosaline Chao) to negotiate a sleazy deal with which she's clearly uncomfortable.
This film starts out strong enough. The initial Streep segment in Lake George - and then in Las Vegas - is quite good. And there are amusing bits. But boy, did things disintegrate for me. I found most of the proceedings to be uninteresting, convoluted, self-satisfied & kinda gross. When I say uninteresting, I mean: I couldn't care less about Soderbergh's failed effort to educate us viewers on dry matters of $$ manipulation. And unlike similarly themed films such as Moneyball, The Wolf of Wall Street, or even The Big Short ... 'The Laundromat' is about as funny as a graveyard. Instead, Soderbergh has his characters break the 4th wall - including Streep in the film's final moments - to explain what's going on, while also beckoning we, the people, to not shirk responsibilities by not reporting corruption when seen. Ugh.
The cast - including Streep, Oldman, Banderas, Wright, including a nice little cameo from Sharon Stone - do what they can {odd accents, bad make-up, and all}, but they're not the problem. I just found Soderbergh's stylized life lesson about money laundering and how the rich & powerful manipulate into leaving less fortunate people in the lurch to be ... incredible dull. This is all such dry, complicated subject matter. And the movie ends on a righteous note that both doesn't feel earned AND is fitfully irksome with respect to what we just watched for 98 preachy minutes. With tonal inconsistencies & an off-putting 'like me, I'm an important movie!' vibe throughout, 'The Laundromat' ended up being a tedious mess of a film, for me.