★★
A widow investigates an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of Panama City law partners exploiting the world's financial system.
Classification: 15
The meek shall inherit the earth
That particular Bible verse is mentioned frequently in this misfire from director Steven Soderbergh as he tries to navigate his way through the complexity of the Panama Papers scandal. A data leak that revealed Panamian law firm, Mossack Fonseca were responsible for thousands of off-shore tax havens committing fraud and tax evasion for the wealthy elite. Unlike modern financial crime dramas such as The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short, The Laundromat is an unfocused, meandering mess that falls apart in its egotistical attempt to satirize and condemn the controversy.
The bible verse referring to those that have been harmed by Mossack Fonseca actions and how they will receive justice because of it. Meryl Streep stars as Ellen, a recent widower whose attempts to begin a new life are blocked by continuous misdirection from insurance companies, real estate firms and various groups and trusts all linked to Mossack Fonseca. One might think that film would follow a traditional narrative on Ellen, following through on all the leads towards Mossack Fonseca and the film would reveal how the house of cards came tumbling down but alas Soderbergh's direction is anything but conventional. Streep's storyline is essentially abandoned halfway through and goes to focus on different vignettes introduced by a fictional greek chorus of Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca portrayed by Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas.
They effectively lead the audience through the different stories of the film, providing the exposition of the financial crimes and loopholes witnessed in the films. However, Oldman and Banderas also play a "real" version of Mossack and Fonseca being affected by the plotline that is seemingly separated from their more spiritual counterparts. Soderbergh along with writer Scott Z. Burns utilises a lot of dramatic techniques to tell their story but instead of accurately capturing the complexity of the issues for the audience instead just make The Laundromat far more convoluted than it needs to be. The film breaks the fourth wall in the same way that The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short does as Mossack and Fonseca guide the audience through their misdeeds while explaining the various ways the fraud is committed. While these moments are informative they are mostly distractions from what Soderbergh wants to achieve with the film, which is never made clear as the films messaging loses sight of a tangible reality.
The performances of The Laundromat are the strongest component by default alone but even Soderbergh doesn't know what he wants his characters to be doing. Oldman and Banderas are fun as the two swarmy lawyers mocking their audience but their continuous appearances grow tiresome and essentially boil down to the same point. That the world is corrupt and it's not their fault, Soderbergh has monologues and scene to show the global scale of corruption but it all feels like random scenes put together. Streep is enjoyable as the widow Ellen in her brief quest to understand the fraud she's unknowingly been a victim too but strangely at the same time also portrays a character named Elena, a presumably Panamanian secretary who works for Mossack Fonseca. So Streep in brownface with ridiculous prosthetics emphasizing a large nose and body shape and an accent is now sharing scenes with Oldman and Banderas. Even with the greek chorus breaking the fourth wall, this addition is not only offensive but undercuts any dramatic potential for the film because it seems clear that Soderbergh doesn't know how to take the story seriously.
Considering the film is based on the Panama papers scandal only a brief portion of the film covers it, with no real insight on the how the information was leaked, who published it and what lasting effects on it had on the political and financial world. The leak doesn't connect into Ellen's story and again makes it more about Mossack and Fonseca's troubles (both the real and narrating) the film's continued motif of the wealthy profiting over the meek is clear as Soderbergh focuses on their issues over anyone else's. The satire of having the film prioritize the needs of the wealthy characters over the poorer ones would be clever if utilised properly but The Laundromat is so blasé with its accuracy and characters that whatever perceived cleverness it thinks it may have is just superficial.
The meek deserve better than this, The Laundromat mocks its audience with stories of how the wealthy commit crime after crime with little to no repercussion all while simultaneously trying to condemn it. Mossack and Fonseca aren't speaking to the audience out a place of shame, there is no real shame to the film, no sense of justice towards the characters meek or not. Just plotting along from one scene to next, thinking that by making fun of those who profit from criminality that itself is a victory but the film doesn't rile up any emotions within its audience. Trying to capitalise on scandal, The Laundromat is a pathetic attempt of a film that doesn't understand the gravity of its subject matter and fails in conveying the importance of what the Panama Papers represented.
Director: #StevenSoderbergh
Cast: #MerylStreep, #GaryOldman, #AntonioBanderas, #JeffreyWright, #RobertPatrick, #DavidSchwimmer, #MatthiasSchoenaerts, #JamesCromwell, #SharonStone
Release Date: October 18th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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