The Lucky One

So, I already made excuses for one mediocre movie this year just because the star(s) was/were hot. (See also: This Means War starring Tom Hardy and Chris Pine). My quota has been filled. I can't do it again. (Although, I reserve the right to change my mind if Magic Mike ends up being terrible). So, yes, Zac Efron finally looks like a man. He's super hot and even a little charming. But that doesn't change the fact that The Lucky One is a terribly trite, terribly boring "romance." I put romance in parenthesis because the stars have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. I imagine it has to be easy to have chemistry with someone as good looking as Efron, although, his acting is so wooden and stiff here that it's not too surprising.

The Lucky One is opens with Efron as a Marine overseas during a night raid. The next morning, he is sitting on a brick wall and sees something shimmering in the sunlight. He goes over to pick up this picture of a pretty blonde just as the brick wall is bombed and everyone dies. This pretty girl in the picture saves his life. Eight months later, he makes it out alive and decides to find this woman so that he can thank her. He does end up finding her (a little too easily, no??) but instead of thanking her, he decides to work for her at her dog kennel instead. He bonds with her precocious curly haired son and her feisty grandmother (Blythe Danner, seriously the only good thing about this movie) but pretty Beth (Taylor Schilling) is a little more distant. Eventually they fall in love, or whatever, and Efron takes his shirt off and that's nice, but unfortunately that's about it. Oh, sure, there's a sub plot about Beth's semi-evil ex-husband who is a cop and the son of a judge and who is abrasive and maybe abusive and drinks a lot and makes a lot of threats. But his character is so two dimensional that you don't even care. In fact, that can be said about all of the characters. I didn't care about a single one of them.

The script was cheesy as can be. The direction was fine, I guess. Efron, who I think could get past this stigma attached to him and become a really respected star... if only he'd start picking the right kinds of movies, was wooden and was missing that charimsa that I know he has. Schilling was fine, I guess, although, again, I didn't care a bit about her. Danner was the only thing that kept this movie going and her part was so small, they couldn't even fully take advantage of her. I will say that the absolute best part of the movie was the beautiful scenery. The movie was filmed in New Orleans and so I immediately want to move there, of course. Overall, The Lucky One was just another sappy, pathetic movie starring pretty people all dressed up as a love story we are supposed to believe. The sentiment is nice, I guess, but the story is so unbelievable that it's hard to find a way to care.

Grade: D+