The Laundromat : L'Affaire des Panama Papers

If you are like me absolutely not interested in financial companies, rich people and their dodgy ways of making money, but you still want to know about the Panama Papers scandal than The Laundromat is worth a watch. They try to explain it in a funny way, but even then I'm still not getting all the scams. And that's just because I'm an antisocial person that wants to live as far away as possible from people like that. The movie is worth a watch because of the very good cast. Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Meryl Streep for the bigger roles, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sharon Stone, David Schwimmer and others for the smaller parts. It's well filmed and brought, and even if it's very far away from my way of life, and that I still don't understand half of the possible scams, it's entertaining. The world needs more whistle blowers, but what it needs more are competent judges putting all those leaches in prison for a long time, but that's just utopic as the world isn't fair and never will be.

A quality cast is betrayed by a clumsily assembled script in Steven Soderbergh's overly preachy documentary/dramedy hybrid approach to the Panama Papers.

Throughout the whole movie, I catch my self laughing so hard and here they're genuinely funny moments. Streep is just so good! It is really a pleasure to watch her act. She is amazing! The whole cast is great! What really makes this a good film is not the topic or concept of the story but rather all the elements of the film. The way to tell a story. Soderbergh again is so good at what he does. Smart writing that engages viewers to like and enjoy a story. Money, corruption are elements that sometimes are too familiar in our lives and we do not want to see as for entertainment. It all depends on what you like to see in films. The Laundromat is well-acted and well written. Personally, I loved it!!!

This is an enjoyable, funny, exposing portrayal of the corrupt system of offshore accounts and how some apparently disconnected events share links back to the corruption at work. Maybe it shouldn't be funny because this is an infuriating reality that could be fixed if...well, if legislators were themselves not corrupt. Yes, the telling of the tale is not done in a totally conventional straight-forward linear way. But it is easy to follow and amusing, even as you feel you should be angry. And of course you realise that this film won't change a thing. But it is well made and acted.

The attorneys at the center of the scandal this covers, filed suit in federal court claiming they were defamed by the film. Upon viewing, you'll realize that there is no way they did not defame themselves.

Above and beyond that, this is a film every single person who is unfamiliar with offshore banking should see. It describes in accurate, albeit humorous terms, how "money" works in some people's hands, vs. how it works in the hands of the normal Joe.

The cast is made up of amazing actors who give amazing performances, yet as most of us know, that isn't always the ingredient for a great movie. This one went a step further, and gifted us with FACTS. (Not even its many detractors can argue with any conclusive proof that the laws it unveils to the layman are not on the books and being used daily).

Basically, it takes the viewer through the inner machinations of a business run by people who know the law and push the law as far as the law will allow in order to serve their own purposes. People who deal in gauging the value of buying and selling trades and commodities, as easy as they gauge the value of .... and trade in ... other people.

Lastly, in going through other reviews here, I can't help but think about how different we all are, and how some people understood and could appreciate such a well presented window into actual business practices and money and how the two affect the average American, and how others seemed to take simple facts, as a personal affront or attack on their political party.

Not WANTING to face facts, does not change fact.