Lucky You
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Movie Reviews of Lucky You
Movie Review: Short on romance, long on the intricacies of poker
Summary: 3 Stars
"Lucky You" is a tutorial in professional poker. The strategy. The company. And, most importantly for any movie that chooses to invest in its subject - the nature of it. The screenplay - written by Eric Roth and director Curtis Hanson - charts the heartbeat of an addicted gambler, a pulse that mirrors that of a cocaine user: Joyous leaps and races punctuated by moments when the flow of blood almost stops completely.
It strips some of the manly sweat away from the craft, too. The movie lacks the histrionics and black drama of, say, "Rounders," in part because "Rounders" is a myth, born of the idea men have about the wars of personality going on at a poker table. "Lucky You" has its clashes, for sure, and its cliches, too, but they lack blarney and false bravado. Here, poker is risk management. Actuarial work. And it makes sense.
Eric Bana turns in a committed performance as Huck Cheever, a Las Vegas poker player - he dabbles in other ridiculous bets of chance, cards, and athletic skill, but is careful never to play "the house" - whose attitude might best be likened to golfer Phil Mickelson. Huck fires for the pin on nearly every hand, overshoots the cards, and never seems to get the river when he needs it most. It's not that Huck doesn't see the angles - he chooses to obliterate them. Again and again. That's how he ends up with an empty house whose deed is held by a sports gambler watching seven televisions at once, including Australian basketball.
The movie opens with Huck pawning his mother's ring, in an effort to get a $10,000 stake in the World Series of Poker. He'll win it that $10,000, then he'll lose it, win it, lose it. His shifting fortune will involve a lounge singer new to Vegas named Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore). As her own character, Billie, seemingly naïve but oddly full of rectitude, is ill-defined. As a mirror held up to Huck's unshaven face, she would be effective if Barrymore, a sunny, buoyant actor unsuited to the moral compromises of Sin City, weren't playing her. "Lucky You" tries on romance but never makes it fit very well.
Better are the father/son dynamics between Huck and his father L.C. (Robert Duvall), a revered champion for whom Huck has unmitigated disdain. There are no surprises in their absent chemistry - L.C. was a deadbeat dad, Huck developed into a deadbeat, in general - but their scenes, especially one in a diner over several games of Guts, are fiercely written. Duvall still knows how to massage a monologue with his halting speech patterns; he uses a comic's understanding of a punchline to create a lizard of a man, down his slicked mat of hair plugs. L.C. sees himself as a Picasso of cards, an artist who sense his "time" of heightened skills is drawing to a close.
Thing is, Huck still has the nose.
For what? The mood of a hand. The unspoken momentum of it. The smell of winning and money. "Lucky You" has no prideful illusions about poker - if anything, it sticks its talons hard into the idea of "manning up" - but it still injects an air of tension and romance into its many poker hands. However misguided or addictive the behavior might be, most of the players in the movie show a love (or at least a healthy lust) for the craft; only Huck seems bent on something greater than victory. Michael Shannon and Jean Smart are especially effective in smaller as two of Huck's competitors, but the credit can be spread around; using several actors from "8 Mile," director Hanson asks for hunger and mild desperation, and he gets it from them.
Hanson's camera is equally nuanced. This is no Vegas glamour pic; we are spared helicopter dollies of The Strip. The candy lights blink in the background of many scenes, but the characters are not enamored or gob smacked by the scene, including Billie. This is a movie of people who live here, and work here, and it is long past excitement. Such honesty about the city - and the willpower to resist it becoming a character of its own - is refreshing.
Aside from Billie, the movie's weakness is a nearly endless final act that covers the World Series of Poker, not since Stallone's "Over The Top" - I'm semi-serious here - has a movie been so committed to introducing new characters in the final thirty minutes like video game bosses, then placing a miniature story arc on their fortunes. The movie's two twists are easily spotted before they unfold and the "resolution," as it were, seems a little dishonest, if morally tidy.
Nevertheless, "Lucky You" has a surprising amount of integrity, and Bana delivers a smooth, like-him-loathe-him performance, equal parts intelligence and ego. He only missteps when he has to make eyes at Barrymore. Funny that Roth and Hanson have a romantic angle for commercial appeal, only to have the movie shelved and dumped on the same weekend of the largest opening in film history ("Spider-Man 3").
Movie Review: 3.5 stars -- above average look at why poker has gotten so popular
Summary: 3 Stars
In my experience, movies with the word "lucky" in the title are typically ironic tales about people that have no luck. That is both true and untrue in "Lucky You", a character study, dramatic slice of life, and romance whose main point of existence is to extol the virtues that made poker and online gambling overwhlemingly popular in this country and elsewhere.
"Lucky You" is the story of a lowlife card shark (Eric Bana), his relationship with a high ethics singer that wanders into his life (Drew Barrymore), and his love-hate relationship with his father (Robert Duvall), who taught him the game, alienated the boy, and bested him at it all his life.
Set in Las Vegas, of course, this morality tale about love, life, family, people and money doesn't have the elements of the greatest Las Vegas films like "Casino". Still, the strong work of the leads carries this movie. I've never seen Barrymore more erotic, seductive and persuasive than in her one-dimensional characterization here. This low pressure look at Americana has a feel and acting nearly as good as the much better and underappreciated "A Slipping Down Life", where another pair of lovebirds played out a similar lifestyle in the Southern music industry.
More than anything else, this movie is about the popularity of one of America's fastest-growing Internet and real-life pastimes -- gambling and, in particular, poker. The final scenes, set in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, realistically depict the righteous media coverage this sports has obtained via pay per view, ESPN and other worldwide television outlets.
While little of its intellectual appeal is present, some of the drama, competitiveness, tension and irascibility of the sport is made apparent in these closing scenes. Throughout the film, the lead character's addiction to gambling is everpresent and made real on screen by a fellow that can't stop it from overtaking him. This mellows in the happy final scenes, of course, where the good guy does the right thing, gets the girl, and makes up for decades of disparagement with dad.
It's one of filmdom's most time-honoroed cliches, played for emotional appeal to close out this little movie. I admit I liked this film almost from the start and found most of its characters -- many bit parts are played by very familiar faces -- interesting, likeable and worth my time. This doesn't make it a great film but it does render it worthwhile. I'd say it's probably going to be worth your time, too.
Movie Review: "Must be tough playing in the shadow of your father"
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a great time to come out with a movie about poker, since the sport has taken off at supersonic speed with amateurs winning the main event of the World Series in the last few years and people following the action on ESPN. The main problem I see with this movie though is that in an effort to be original it runs into unreal situations like a misdeal followed by a huge bad beat, or a close call to end a contrived bet.
The plot is fairly typical, a poker pro, Huck Cleever, trying to make it to the World Series of poker and win the main event. In the process, he meets a girl that shakes his world and makes him rethink his priorities. The added complication is that he is the son of a two-time winner of the event, and the son-father relationship has been in tatters for a long time. During his quest, Huck experiences huge swings in his luck, and this provides an enlightening view of what the life of a professional gambler can be like.
The acting is not particularly inspired, with the exception of Robert Duvall, who plays L.C. Cheever, the father of the protagonist. Duvall infuses his character with the external toughness and inner conflicts that the role requires and is therefore extremely successful in the process. There is a wide array of poker pros taking part in this movie, but most of them have silent roles, the exceptions are Sammy Farha and Jason Lester, who have a couple of lines each. The list of celebrities includes among others Phil Helmut, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. I did not really understand why a couple of pros play characters with different names, like Jennifer Harman, who plays Shannon Kincaid, or John Hennigan as Ralph Kaczynski.
Overall, I think that the idea of the movie was good, but the execution was deficient and the overall quality suffered as a result. For a long time to come, poker movies are going to be evaluated in terms of how they compare to Rounders, and in that sense, this one comes up short. Poker players will probably get some enjoyment from this production, but they should not expect much.
Movie Review: RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "LOOK FOR YOUR LUCK ELSEWHERE!"
Summary: 3 Stars
This story takes place in Las Vegas in 2003, and revolves around a young gambling addict Huck Cheever, played by Eric Bana. Bana's entire performance never rises above a monotone. At the five minute mark the first song is played, and it's pretty interesting that it's "Lucky Town" by Bruce Springsteen which was released in 1992. The main character displays every characteristic of being a helpless gambling addict, which is at least a serious problem, if not a disease, yet in the entire two hour movie, only one or two small comments are made regarding this. The main sub-plot is the fact that Huck's Father (Played by Robert Duvall) deserted the family and stole from Huck's mother. Duvall, whose hair looks like it was put on with a shoe shine kit, has won the world series of poker twice, and the entire story leads to a confrontation with both Father and son competing against each other in this years world series of poker.
The pace of the film is slow and meanders throughout. In the middle of the movie there are two scenes that would have been a perfect place to make a statement about true gambling addiction problems, but the writers let it pass by without even an attempt at making a redeeming social comment. Father and son meet in a coffee shop around breakfast time, and Huck had just finally put together $10,000.00 in a backers money for the entry fee for the world series of poker. In ten minutes, the Father wins it from him, and the next scene is Huck making a $5,000.00 bet (With money he doesn't have!) That he can run five miles and then play 18 holes of scratch golf all in under three hours.
Of course, he loses that bet too. While this is going on Drew Barrymore has a supporting role as Huck's new love interest. I won't give away the tepid ending, but you can bet, that it wasn't "bad luck" , that made this movie disappear from theaters in the "blink of an eye".
Movie Review: Decent movie about love and poker
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw this movie last year during a free screening. It was a decent date movie about love and poker. Despite the title, "Lucky You" is really about an down and out poker play, Huck Cheever, trying to get into a famous poker tournament. A big part of the movie is Huck's rivalry with his dad who beats up in the poker table. We see Huck have a lover Suzanne Offer. However, eventually he falls for her sister who
is a singer.
Barrymore hasn't looked she's aged much. Her performance is good here. However, to be honest this role is the same as other roles she's played where she falls in love with a guy that hurts her. Bana is convincing as the down on his luck poker play who hates his dad. Duvall by this point is a master in playing the stuffy, arrogant, old man at the twilight of his career. "Lucky You" in a way this is one of those movies where the major character as hard he tries is an underachiever who can't cut a break. Nothing ever seems to work for him including relationships. This movie also has the familiar "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, then loses her again" plot that that audiences will eat up.
I remember the audience though did love it and the movie does manage to blend in comedy and drama and shows you a bit of what's like in the card playing world of poker.
The release of the movie in May just seems totally illogical. With all the summer blockbusters coming up, it seems destined to be a movie that will be forgotten amidst the hype of the other movies. Still it's a decent movie and the acting is fine. The movie may not do huge at the box office but if you want a perfectly decent movie to watch that will leave you satisfied at the end then check it out