The Laundromat movie review & film summary (2019)
Oldman and Banderas are undeniably charming actors, but they’re almost too much so for what Burns and Soderbergh are reaching for here. There’s a smug archness to most of their scenes that’s off-putting, almost nihilistic. It has an air of, “This is the way it is, and there isn’t a thing you can do about it, peasant.” And as Ellen keeps pushing through this world and basically finding that the buck stops nowhere, “The Laundromat” becomes an increasingly bleak experience. In the film’s worst choice, when Ellen’s arc basically ends, it’s as if Soderbergh and his producers were unwilling to say goodbye to the legendary actress, and so they put a costume on her and recast her as a Hispanic secretary at Mossack and Fonseca’s company. Even if you don't consider it offensive, it's a bizarre choice, and, worst of all, a hint that no one involved with “The Laundromat” is really taking the subject seriously. While we're pulling back the curtain on inequity, let’s have some goofy make-up work too!
There are just too many creative decisions in “The Laundromat” that don’t come together, from the chapter titles that have less depth than your average listicle to the fact that nearly every single part is cast with a recognizable face, often having just a line or two. Most of all, it’s an issue of tone—the film comes off as patronizing, a feeling I’ve never had before watching Soderbergh. He’s investigated the systems of the world before in everything from “Erin Brockovich” to “The Girlfriend Experience,” but those films had a compassion for their characters that’s missing here. After all, the average viewer for this on Netflix is going to be closer to Ellen Martin than the uber-wealthy protected by Mossack and Fonseca. Of course, “The Laundromat” doesn’t need to place the Ellen Martins of the world on a pedestal to make us feel compassion for them, but it would be nice if it felt like the movie actually liked her, and us, in the end.
This review was filed from the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12th.
