To Have And Have Not

“The Laundromat” and “Downton Abbey.”

- Anthony Lane

If you had to categorize Steven Soderbergh’s new film, “The Laundromat,” what would you call it? An extended skit; a blast of indignation against the avarice of recent times; a jigsaw of mini­movies, just about fitted together; a Brechtian Lehrstück, pulling us into the plot, schooling us in its didactic purpose, and reducing the fourth wall to rubble; or simply a bit of a mess?

One thing is for sure. Soderbergh and his screenwriter, Scott Burns, cannot be accused of hiding their central theme. At the start of the proceedings, a clump of tumbleweed bowls along desert sands, followed, somewhat surprisingly, by two gentlemen informal evening wear. Each bears a friendly smile and a cocktail in his hand. Their names are Ramón (Antonio Banderas) and Jürgen (Gary Oldman), and they will be our hosts for this motion picture. Appearing at intervals, they guide us through “the secret life of money,” maintaining an aura of genial condescension. (Plus, in Jürgen’s case, a German accent so thick that you could spread it like lard. Do I detect an in­joke on the part of Oldman, who won an Oscar last year for playing Churchill?) Only in the latter stages does that aura disperse, as the hosts are finally, to their dismay, pulled into the guts of the action. Money eats everything in sight.