Place Your
Ad Here!

THIS WEEK AT THE MOVIES

 

Lucky You

Cast:
Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, Charles Martin Smith

Lucky You
Warner Bros. Pictures, 150mins, PG-13

Directed by
Curtis Hanson

Morons can be very intelligent people. Curtis Hanson, who wrote and directed one of the great movies of all time [LA Confidential], has decided to explore this phenomenon in what might be his weakest film in years.

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) and Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore) are both very intelligent morons. He is a professional gambler and she a lounge singer. He burns though money like there's no tomorrow, and she's got lousy taste in men and knows it.

They meet cute, Huck “saves” Billie from a guy at a party, and despite the fact that her sister Suzanne (Debra Messing) knows our hero very well, she goes with him anyway. They have cute conversation and after they screw, he steals her money. She gets mad, but not that mad. Then Huck tries to get the ten grand to get into the World Series of Poker. He has an offer from a big shot gambler (Charles Martin Smith) in exchange for a 60/40 split [in the other guy's favor], but he doesn't want to be beholden to anyone, especially his hated father L.C. (Robert Duvall), who is also a gambler, but relents and then blows it all. Moron. He knows that he should have paid the entry fee immediately, but no. Then there's a really stupid scene where our hero tries to get the money via a weird bet with another gambler (Horatio Sanz). Billie is back, and how they part is moralistic tripe.

The problem with this film is the writing. The whole thing is based on idiot plotting. Yeah, the acting is good, (Bana's the weakest of the bunch, and Duvall and Barrymore do their shticks with the professionalism that we've come to expect) but the characters aren't well drawn, Hanson's usually sharp dialogue is rather blunted here, and the world of the film seems emotionless and remote.

This is all the more disappointing because Hansen's films of the past decade, and this includes “In Her Shoes”, have been wildly entertaining. But mediocre Hanson is better than good almost anyone else…no it isn't. Bargain matinee or cable material only. Darn! I was sooooooo looking forward to this one…


Eric Lurio