New Jersey Stage 2017: Issue 8 | Page 89

obstacles appear in their path are dispensed within seconds. There’s never a sense that these people are out of their depth, and the Speedway is laughably devoid of security. The movie keeps telling us how the Logans are jinxed, but never shows us much evidence of this. As a com- edy, it’s devoid of witty dialogue and amusing scenarios, relying on sub Coen Bros gurning from its cast. There’s a subplot about Jim- my’s love for his young daughter NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 8 Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie), but we only see this in the opening scene, which makes a final act sequence set during a school pageant, in which Sadie sings her father’s favorite song (I’ll let you guess which John Denver standard it is), completely un- earned and a cheap exploitation of musical sentiment. I almost forgot about the doctor played by Katherine Waterston, who ap- pears in one scene yet is posited as a love interest for Jimmy. The over-riding sense throughout Lo- INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 89