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Lucky You

kdk May 5, 2007
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Read Time:2 Minute, 45 Second

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) has spent his whole life gambling. The son of two-time World Poker Champion L. C. Cheever (Robert Duvall), Huck grew up playing poker with his dad at the kitchen table. But then, thanks to L. C.’s gambling, things fell apart in their family—and Huck has never been able to forgive his father for it.



Now, though, Huck’s turning into his father. He spends his days and nights playing poker—and everyone at the casino knows him by name. He’s good at reading his opponent, but he’s so compulsive that he ends up losing everything he makes. He’s in debt up to his eyeballs, but he keeps playing—both because he just can’t stop and because he needs $10,000 to buy himself a seat in the upcoming World Series of Poker. He’ll do anything to get the money—just so he can prove himself to his dad.



Though Huck’s attentive and compulsive at the poker table, he’s the exact opposite in life. So when he meets Billie (Drew Barrymore), a singer from California, he has no idea how to deal with his feelings for her.



Lucky You is supposed to be a touching drama about compulsive gamblers. But, unfortunately, there’s nothing all that touching about compulsive gamblers—or at least not these compulsive gamblers. Yes, Huck and L. C. have father/son issues, but the story doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen before.



Though the marketing campaign portrays Lucky You as a romantic comedy, it’s not that, either. The female characters seem slapped on as an afterthought, in an attempt to attract a female audience. As a result, Barrymore’s character is as flat and uninteresting as they come. The audience gets to know very little about her, and her storyline feels forced.



Actually, any story this movie has feels forced and unnatural. But don’t worry—there’s not much of it. The two-hour runtime consists of approximately 30 minutes of story and 90 minutes of poker playing. Now, I’ve watched my share of poker on TV (enough to recognize poker pro Daniel Negreanu in the movie), but this is different. For one thing, the banter around the televised poker tables is actually more interesting than it is in the movie. And, on TV, when the players are quiet, there’s an announcer to discuss who has which cards and what the players are doing and why you’re supposed to care. In the movie, you only see Huck’s hand. Then you watch him stare down his opponents before placing his next bet. There’s very little dialogue—and there’s very little suspense. On TV, at least you don’t know who will win and who will lose. In the movie, though, you pretty much know what’s going to happen. And that makes for a whole lot of painfully predictable poker.



In the end, Lucky You doesn’t have much of an audience. Only hard-core poker fans will want to sit through all the poker—but I have a feeling that even the hard-core fans will find it long and tedious. Personally, I feel rather unlucky for having to sit through it.

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About Post Author

kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it. Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course. As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com). Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
kdk@nightsandweekends.com
http://www.NightsAndWeekends.com
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kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.

Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.

As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).

Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.

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