THE LAUNDROMAT (NETFLIX)

The majority of first run films on Netflix are at best average and in the case of “The Laundromat” a dismally pejorative, flimsily transparent rip off of “The Big Short”; based on “The Panama Papers”(2015), exposing the Panamanian law firm of Jurgen Mossack (Gary Oldman), Ramon Fonesca (Antonio Banderas) with slimy schtick, tongue-in-cheek audacity these “dandies” defend their fraudulent, flagrant abuse of offshore shell corporations, avoiding taxes, sanctions, money laundering; director Steven Soderberg loses his focus by sinking into a miasma of obfuscation, confusion and indolent idiocy; regardless of country (the United States and the state of Delaware, particularly maligned) greed, the mortal motivator, conquers the scenario; “Ellen Martin”, the victim of an elaborate insurance fraud, is a metaphor for all abused, robbed by a hierarchy, totally incomprehensible to those trusting souls who signed papers thrust under their pen; the incomparable, valiant Meryl Streep cannot save “The Laundromat” from  being flushed down the drain.

ONE STAR!

Peneflix