The Lucky One: Movie Review

We are hard-pressed to really find any shortcomings on "The Lucky One". In fact, it is a film that seems perfectly-attuned to its narrative brethren. But at the end of the day, the movie comes out as average - it just felt like another one of those romance-drama-chick flick rehashes that doesn't bring anything new to the table. While we liked the deep and complex situations the various characters are facing, a tendency to provide shallow scenes against those makes this film miss a very big opportunity to do more and be less than a trifled experience.

U.S. Soldier Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) returns to America from his third tour of Iraq. He credits one thing that kept him alive throughout his various tours of duty — a photograph he found of a woman he doesn't even know. Finding out the location of the lighthouse in the background of the photo, Logan decides to go and ask if the townspeople knew about the girl. Finally learning her name is Beth (Taylor Schilling) and where she lives, he shows up at her door and ends up taking a job at her family-run dog kennel. Despite her initial mistrust, a romance develops between Logan and Beth, giving Logan hope that Beth could be much more than his good luck charm.

"The Lucky One" has two sides to it and unfortunately, it decides to concentrate more on the easier one where most films go. What we are talking about is the film's decision to focus more on the romance part than the actual struggles of Logan, Beth and even the other characters that surround their lives. These characters are very deep, flawed and complex, and even without equal time against the usual love scenes, the audience already feels this. There was just a certain disconnect for us that these characters were serious and yet the scenes they were in were not. And yes, we feel like its an opportunity lost. How we wished they tried to find a way to have a more balanced experience - less kissing scenes, more dramatic salvos about their problems. As for the acting, we could say that it was okay. It brings out certain emotions but ironically, it lacks that dramatic punch that could sway someone to shed some tears. In the end, "The Lucky One" is a clichéd experience that is average at best. Fans of this genre will feel that its better than usual but for others, you could hold on to your wallets for now.

Rating: 3 reels





Why you should watch it:
- deep, complex characters make this more interesting than it should be

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- concentrates on the romance aspect too much
- lacks that dramatic punch that you usually get from similar films