Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, James Cromwell, Robert Patrick, David Schwimmer, Jeffrey Wright, Nono Anonzie, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sharon Stone
The Laundromat wants the viewer to be outraged and spew venom at the screen because the wealthy hide their wealth in offshore accounts and shell corporations to avoid paying taxes. The meek, as so often referred to in this film, cannot inherit the earth under this economic system, so they must sit and take it as the rich get exponentially richer. This ground was adequately covered in The Big Short, but that doesn't mean there is still isn't room for another take on the subject. The Laundromat squanders that opportunity. It is a dramedy which trips over itself trying to be too clever. We have too many tangents, distractions, and breaking the fourth wall moments to build any momentum. In the end, we're left with Meryl Streep (as herself, not a character) expounding on what the movie was trying to say. Why the explanation of the points the movie was trying to make in the previous ninety minutes? Is it recapping in case we fell asleep, which is possible?
The Laundromat begins with two men dressed impeccably in tuxedos (Oldman and Banderas) who speak about the history of trade and money. They walk through various sets, including one of early man discovering fire and a nightclub in a cutesy setup which lets us know The Laundromat won't be too Serious. Then, we meet a couple named Ellen (Streep) and Joe (Cromwell) taking a river cruise on a small boat which capsizes causing twenty people including Joe to drown. The boat's owners (Patrick and Schwimmer) discover their insurance policy was bogus and Ellen is screwed out of any settlement she might otherwise be entitled to. Ellen does some digging and discovers somehow that the insurance company itself is a company on paper only, as are many others headed ultimately by a Panama conglomerate led by, you guessed it, the two guys in the tuxedos from the opening scenes. Oldman and Banderas play Mossack and Fonseca, who run a shady pyramid scheme of a company in which tax shelters are created for their ultra-rich clientele looking to hide their money.
If The Laundromat followed Ellen's story all the way through, even in a comic way, we would have had something here, but then the movie splinters off into two other stories about two different wealthy clients who also invest with Mossack and Fonseca. Both stories end as unhappily, albeit in different degrees, as Ellen's. Even though The Laundromat casts Ellen aside, those who go through Meryl Streep withdrawal won't need to worry long. She returns, inexplicably, as a cubicle worker in Mossack's firm who is "promoted" to running some shell corporations, at least on paper. Streep dons a dark wig and a prosthetic nose while speaking her dialogue in a thick "hey look at my awesome Spanish accent." We know Streep has mastered just about every accent you can think of, but it's a waste to see this one used here for such an obvious stunt.
Ninety minutes go by, and at that point we have long stopped caring because the movie doesn't seem to care much either. It has something to say, to be sure, but chooses to spread its message in an off-putting way. Director Steven Soderbergh usually makes better films than this, and the actors usually appear in better films than this. We've amassed a group of big talents who ultimately languish in a product that wants to say something, but flubs when it comes time to say it.
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