Review: Laundromat [Netflix 2019]

Netflix’s new movie, “Laundromat”, seems to be included in the awards discussions, but I don’t think it deserves to be mentioned. I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie or understand its purpose, with the exception of presenting a real life story. 

“Laundromat” is a Steven Soderbergh movie that tells the story of the Panama Papers. It’s about money schemes and fraud, and how it all went down after someone released all the bank records and contracts to the media. In a nutshell. It’s done in the same style as “The Big Short”, where the characters talk directly to the audience and explain concepts. This worked for the Adam McKay-directed film because it followed one storyline and the explanation was used only to describe financial terms. In “Laundromat” it fell flat; it was like they were telling us the action and what it meant, instead of us discovering it.

I think this is why I disliked this movie so much. A lot of information, a lot of characters, and a bad way of connecting them. The script was messy, the monologue was too stuffy and, at parts, pretentious, and it had uncorrelated storylines. The script used too many examples to showcase the idea that the meek are screwed, and that the rich are getting away with too much. Too bad for the cast, because it was beaming with talent; they did the best they could with what they had.

All in all, I didn’t particularly enjoy “Laundromat”. Cool premise and great cast, but bad script and direction.