Lucky You
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Movie Reviews of Lucky You
Movie Review: Two Hours of my Life I'll Never Recover
Summary: 2 Stars
I've totally loved everything America's Sweetheart Drew Barrymore has come out with since her movie since 1998's "Ever After", especially the romantic comedies. I also love poker. Combine the two and I thought this movie was going to be fantastic!
But it wasn't.
First of all, Drew Barrymore's character (Billie) was completely unrealistic. Here is a girl who is disgusted by dishonesty but yet hangs out with a guy who robs from her, lies to her, and encourages her to lie and cheat herself. Why does she even bother?
Eric Bana's character is a bit more interesting as Huck, a professional gambler who takes all risks at the game of poker but plays it safely in life. The movie is all about him trying to reverse those two roles... to play safely in poker and live on the edge in life while dealing with a girlfriend, a dysfunctional father, compulsive gaming, and a damaging history. But I just wasn't sold that the events that happened to him were motivation enough to make him want to change his life.
And then the poker. I love Texas Hold'em on ESPN but what makes poker so fun and interesting is that everything is random. In this movie, everything is scripted down to what the river is going to turn over. There are very few surprises and even these surprises are completely scripted. It just took all the fun out of poker.
So, the poker isn't excited and the characters are only modestly interesting if you can get past the fact that the two main characters would never get together in a million years.
The only thing I can applaud is the acting as the all-star cast does do the best they can with a boring, slow, and awkward script. The performances by Barrymore, Bana, and Duval are outstanding. But if you are looking for good acting then I've got other movies to suggest that would be much more interesting.
I just can't rate a movie more than two stars when I debate turning it off halfway through and then regret actually finishing it when I leave it on. I just didn't get anything out of this movie and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody unless there is an actor in here you absolutely must see.
Movie Review: Maybe not so lucky
Summary: 2 Stars
Lucky You, in a nut shell, is about a obsessed gambler played by Eric Bana who falls for a wannabe singer played by Drew Barrymore. The story leads you down Bana's path to the World Series where he hopes to get his big break, along the way learning how to manage not only his money and gambling but his normal life as well. I won't go too into the movie's story but the basic plot is Bana learns his leason at the end and all loose ends are tied in a nice little package.
My main problem with this movie is the pacing and softness of the over all film. It's REALLY slow and never really reaches a pinnacle high point, it pretty much stays in a conservative state the entire film from start to finish. Even at the end when you don't feel like there's a climax happening, just another thing in Bana's life. Barrymore's performance was really weak as well. She was awkwardly cheesy and boreing in every scene she was in, and the ones where her and Bana are together you don't get that sense of synergy between the actors. Now I think Bana did a good job, he definitely played the part of the struggling poker player. As with all the other reviews I'm going to compare this to Rounder's, the quintessential poker movie. Granted that movie was more about the underground poker scene in the mid to late nineties, there was a strong story that you wanted to see how it ended. Watching Matt Damon's character as he loses his life's savings and trying to figure out who he is and what he's meant for is a real pleasure to watch with a very dramatic show off at the end. This is something Luck You misses because you don't really care about Bana's character or what happens to him. There isn't that urge to root for the good guy to win over all adversity because again, there's really nothing for him to battle besides himself. My final verdict, this is at most a weekend rental. Watching this once is enough and there isn't any real poker stratagy thrown in either unlike Rounder's where the famous phrase, "it's not the cards it's the player" originated.
Movie Review: Fails on Every Conceibable Level
Summary: 2 Stars
Take a bunch of talented Hollywood favorites and mix 'em up with a pretty decent idea for a movie, and somehow end up with a ridiculous mess of a flick. And the poker scenes don't ring true at all. There always seems to be just one chair open whenever he wants to join a table, and the little speeches and banter during play are cringe-inducing. Duvall and Barrymore could not make this even slightly enjoyable. Predictable dialogue and ending, ludicrous side-bets.......don't waste your time. As the plot takes one assinine turn after another, I'm left wondering if this was a serious attempt at a memorable movie or just a money grab for the easily satisfied populace that lap up this inane drivel with mindless abandon. I did like the soundtrack, oddly enough. And some of the panaramic shots were quite lovely. Mostly I just wanted this buffoon playing the lead to ride his motorcycle into a brick wall doin' 90 mph. No redeeming qualities or lasting impressions. Drew looked amazing, but her character was as dull as everyone else in the flick. The dude with tits was likeable enough-he should've shown 'em. Could've got this disaster another half a star. Non-existent drama. The pro poker players that have appearances show more talent and charisma at acting than the "actors".Movie Review: Weirdly somnolent
Summary: 2 Stars
High stakes Las Vegas gambling and Drew Barrymore- what could be more exciting? Right? Wrong. Drew sleepwalks through this movie in a trance (hopefully not chemically induced), there's absolutely no chemistry between her and Bana (how could there be chemistry between two rocks?), and the tone of this movie and its actors is so low-key that it quickly descends into a monotone drone. With its relative dearth of music and surprisingly fuzzy film quality, I would have thought that I was watching a low-budget Bulgarian movie from the 1980s, were it not for the familiar faces and American details. It's not a disaster, but it's not very good either. Unless you're a big time fan of professional poker, skip it.Movie Review: Rounders Wannabee?
Summary: 2 Stars
Drew Barrymore was too cute and innocent, but not bad. Eric Bana playing the obsessed poker-playing pro was boring and somewhat of a veiled ripoff of Matt Damon's excellent character in the superior movie "Rounders."
Even though you get to see some "Real World poker players" such as Phil Helmut, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson," it didn't help the awful plot of pitting father (Robert Duvall) against son (Eric Bana).