Jack of all trades director Curtis Hanson takes on yet another genre of filmmaking in Lucky You, a character based look at the world of professional poker.
Eric Bana (best known for turns in Chopper and Munich) plays Huck Cheever, a maverick poker expert desperate to take part in the upcoming “World Series”, a tournament his absent father LC (Duvall) has already won twice.
But there’s one small problem for the insolvent Huck... the $10,000 entrance fee. Desperate to take revenge on his Dad, Huck begs, borrows and steals his way across Las Vegas until he meets Billie, a beautiful lounge singer with a warm heart and a stack of ready cash. Bingo!
They say:
Empire: “A ‘realistic’ Vegas movie that will set no one’s soul on fire, but is further proof that Hanson can lend his talents to any style of movie.”
Total Film: “A frustrating case of good pedigree, bad form. Poker fans are better off looking up The Cincinnati Kid or Rounders.”
BBC: “Hanson takes a gamble with Lucky You, but his hand isn't strong enough to sustain this poker based drama, with rather more poker than drama.”
We say:
Director Curtis Hanson was on a red hot streak at the turn of the millennium with LA Confidential, Wonder Boys and 8 Mile impressing both critics and audiences alike. But now, after 2005’s insipid In Her Shoes and this meandering mess, it appears his luck has finally run out.
Poker films immediately have a restricted appeal as the majority of cinemagoers have no idea how the game works and therefore don’t understand what’s going on at crucial moments. Furthermore (as Casino Royale proved last year), card sequences don’t play well on the big screen and there are a limited number of ways that a director can shoot the action before it becomes repetitive.
At over two hours long, Hanson would have done well to truncate or, preferably, chop half of these scenes, focusing instead on the flimsy romance subplot between Bana and Barrymore which currently feels like an afterthought.
Screenwriter Eric Roth must take some of the blame for this, particularly as he has previously been responsible for classics such as Forrest Gump and The Insider.
While Duvall does his best to inject some gravitas into proceedings, Bana struggles in a thankless central role and after a two year acting hiatus it seems strange that he chose this project to make his comeback with.
Barrymore is similarly miscast, her “butter wouldn’t melt” performance more suited to romance comedy than character drama.
Don’t care what we say? Want to see for yourself? Well roll the dice and take your chance, but the odds of you enjoying this aren’t strong.
CAST
Eric Bana
Drew Barrymore
Robert Duvall
Debra Messing
Robert Downey Jr
DIRECTOR
Curtis Hanson
TIME
124 mins
POSTED...
Sat 23 Jun 2007 at 12:12pm
