Movie Review: Lucky You

I decided to take a chance. Rarely do I sit and watch movies or television shows about poker. The last time I did was in 1998 for the movie Rounders and that was only because I think Edward Norton is a great actor. I avoid movies about poker because they are boring. Unless you're heavily into the mechanics of playing a hand, it is impossible to sit and watch a poker game. And no matter how you cut it or try and dress it up, there will be a lot of scenes of poker games — which leads us down the boring path. I'm not entirely sure why I took a chance on Lucky You. I believe it had two possible reasons:

1. It stars Drew Barrymore — America's new favorite sweetheart.
2. There is nothing else in the theaters worth my time

I suspect the second reason is the truer.

Whatever the reason, Lucky You falls short of any possible expectations I may have had for it. The overwhelming reason (putting aside the poker aspect) is the lack of chemistry between Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) and Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore). Within the first few days of meeting, we are supposed to believe these two people are romantically linked. Yet, each scene in which they are in together gave me no feelings of intimacy. They almost played against each other like friends of convenience — no real emotional attachment — just a buddy to go to the bar with because you'd rather not go alone. This lack of connection hurts the movie in a major way, because Billie is the arrow that breaks through Huck's tough exterior and helps him to repair his relationship with his father, L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall). It was extremely hard to swallow that pill when they gave off such chilly feelings.

Article Author: General Disdain

This writer enjoys candlelit dinners and the fast paced excitement of NASCAR. Additional reviews can be found at The Critical Movie Critics.

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