Spin Cycle - The Laundromat
The events at the center of The Laundromat are complicated, wild and weird. This is Wild Tales meets The Big Short, with a series of isolated stories meant to teach us lessons about our complicated financial system. In the hands of less capable talent, this would have no doubt been a disaster. Its quirks would have become annoyances; its performances would have likely fallen flat. But in the hands of Steven Soderbergh and Meryl Streep and Co., it all just meshes. It is far from perfect, but given its ambition and scope, you have to admire it.
The story begins with a retired couple enjoying a the vacation of their dreams. But when their boat capsizes and the husband dies, the wife, Ellen Martin (played by Meryl Streep), sets out to get the insurance payments she is owed and runs into a web of fraud and misdirection. Not satisfied, she keeps digging until she, and the audience, has a full understanding of what is now known as “The Panama Papers”—a labyrinth of legal hurdles and articles of obfuscation.
As the film unfolds, we are offered windows into various sides of this sordid saga. Each presents fictionalized versions of real people and events, filling in the blanks with entertaining explainers meant to bring levity to the erstwhile informative experience.
The connective tissue of the movie, the creative structure and adventurous direction, would just serve to make this a more interesting failure if it weren’t for Meryl Streep. Having her in your film is a cheat code. She is the Hollywood equivalent of a magic trick—slipping in and out of characters with literally unparalleled ease. She never ceases to amaze.
Whether or not the film works in a major way is open to debate. Depending on how invested in get in each of its stories, you may find yourself falling our of love with bits of it. The upshot is that if you don’t like where you are, the movie is never going to keep you there long. It’s either the fancy version of a TV dinner or the fast food version of a premium steak. Either way, it gives you a lot to chew on.
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