'No Sudden Move' is a bit all over the map, but worth a stream

Don't get me wrong. It's a delight to see Steven Soderbergh back in action and in the crime genre where he's done such great work before. Unfortunately, his new film No Sudden Move doesn't have the sex appeal of Out of Sight, the precision of the Ocean's films or the unmitigated joy of Logan Lucky.

It looks fantastic -- like most Soderbergh films -- although I am not quite sure why it needed to be a period film but he evokes the '50s very effectively. He also has an incredibly stacked cast although too many actors like Bencio Del Toro and Jon Hamm aren't given enough material to play with. Don Cheadle sports a distracting, gravelly accent for no particular reason and David Harbour seems to be acting in a totally different, much funnier movie.

It's got too many characters and is narratively overstuffed but somehow claustrophobic at the same time.

But No Sudden Move's biggest problem is tone. It has some cool set pieces and style to spare but it is neither a drama nor a comedy. It's far too talky to call it an action film or a thriller and so it's kind of just a very dressed up little genre piece. 

I do think it's a notch above The Laudromat, one of his two recent Meryl Streep vehicles (I didn't get around to Let Them All Talk) but other than its jazzy Chinatown-esque score and dynamic cinematography it feels like it's lacking Soderbergh's distinct directorial stamp.

Its narrative is twisty enough but it takes far too long to make any kind of statement about what it wants to be about -- in a somewhat heavy handed cameo role played by Matt Damon -- and it just isn't very fun.

It's not a bad movie, mind you. And it mostly held my interest. I wish Julia Fox, such a scene stealer in Uncut Gems had more to do. Ray Liotta pops up and gives the movie a little juice but he also gets sidelined too quickly. The same goes for a revived Brendan Fraser.

It feels like it could be an HBO series instead of a single movie -- which is perhaps why it's fitting that it's available streaming on HBO Max, and I imagine it could grow on me some more after some repeat viewings (I did get a kick out of actor-director Bill Duke showing up as a badass heavy) but it doesn't feel as vital as much of Soderbergh's best work.

Still, it's a diverting enough two hours -- and you can appreciate it if nothing else for its craftsmanship. In many ways, it's an ideal movie to stay in and watch -- as it modest charms work well on the small screen.