With many films coming out recently about wealth disparity, the haves-versus-the-have-nots, and the things the rich and powerful would do to get what they want, it is enticing to see a filmmaker like Steven Soderbergh tackle the material with writer, Scott Z. Burns, who have both collaborated prior on films like The Informant!, Contagion, and Side Effects. Specifically, they’re looking at the Panama Papers, a set of leaked documents that exposed financial details about offshore banking used by the wealthy all around the world to avoid paying taxes, which were released by an anonymous source back in 2015.
Earlier this year, Soderbergh released High Flying Bird through Netflix, and he is going the same route with his latest, The Laundromat. Unfortunately, despite an incredible streak with his filmography, Soderbergh’s newest film is the first I found to be disappointing in a while. That isn’t to say there aren’t things to like and admire about it. The craft is still there, with Soderbergh serving as cinematographer and editor, it’s sharply made, it’s well paced, he gets great performances out of his star studded cast. The pieces in place are more than solid, but they never truly come together in a satisfying way.
Structurally, the film is a bit odd. It explores the story through a few vignettes, and an audience addressing narration from Jürgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramón Fonseca (Antonio Banderas), who are the heads of the firm affected by the leaked Panama Papers. They explain a lot of the financial and political mumbo-jumbo that would likely get lost on audiences who aren’t as aware of some of the ins-and-outs of this industry.
It’s within the vignettes that we get a more grounded human element, with the most significant one being that of Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep), a woman who has been widowed recently due to a boating accident that took her husband’s life, among numerous others. As she tries to figure out what to do next, and make sense of how things work in regards to the insurance and settlements, and specifically the lack thereof, she slowly uncovers the strange network of shell companies that don’t really even exist. These discoveries are really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how deep the systems of corruption goes, which the film explores more in depth as it goes on.
It all sounds interesting enough, but there are a couple other stories thrown in. One involving a girl, Simon (Jessica Allain), catching her wealthy father, Charles (Nono Anonzie), with her roommate, and the conflict that arrises when she threatens to tell the mother, and him offering shares worth millions as a way to keep her quiet. The payoff is, admittedly not too shocking, but effective nonetheless. It’s a compelling scene when looked at on its own, but it’s so awkwardly thrown into the film. A similar effect is felt with a later sequence involving a European businessman (Matthias Schoenaerts) taking part in a shady deal with a figure who works in Chinese plastics.
Each vignette has a distinct look and tone, but it’s all surrounded by these goofy, fourth-wall breaking flourishes, and the cheeky, the over-the-top performances from Oldman and Banderas. It brings to mind the kind of thing that Adam McKay has been doing with his newer films like The Big Short and Vice. While I don’t necessarily love those films, I think there’s a lot to appreciate, and at the very least, McKay does a better job at structuring those films with enough attention paid to both momentum and emotional impact, which end up working both because of and despite his excessive stylistic touches.
The Laundromat isn’t a total dud, it’s fairly watchable, and doesn’t demand too much of your time. Hopefully, it can bring more attention to the issues that the film is bringing up. As a message movie, it’s muddled, awkward, and ends on a note that is…just…very, very bizarre. I expected better considering all the people involved, and the material they’re working with. The intention is certainly there, but something got lost along the way, and it robs the film of having the impact that it wanted.