April 24, 2012
Nicholas Sparks should stop writing novels for all of our sakes. "The Lucky One" is yet another failed attempt at adapting a Sparks love story onto the big screen, as well as a lackluster directorial choice in the once promising, but now spiraling career of Scott Hicks (Hearts i... read moren Atlantis, Shine). And did I mention that his film stars Zac Efron (17 Again, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax) adding another B list role to his filmography?
Before I begin my review, I want my readership to know that I am not dumb. I know that no matter what I say, good or bad, about "The Lucky One", it will in no way deter the excitable Efron fans from wasting their money. But like so many "don't text while driving" PSA's, I will do my best to prevent the inevitable. If I can just reach that one girl (or sadly, woman) who still has a "High School Musical" poster on her bedroom wall, then this review will have not all been for nothing.
Synopsis: A Marine, named Logan (Efron), fighting in Afghanistan or a place resembling such, finds a mysterious photo of a very average looking woman, (played by Taylor Schilling) in the dirt. When he goes to retrieve it, a bomb goes off behind him, killing three other soldiers. Taking this photo as a sign of good luck, he decides to keep it in his wallet for the rest of his tour, in order to avert death. No, this is not the beginning of the new "Final Destination" film, even though there is one other instance where Logan is yet again attacked, but emerges as the only survivor. Anyways, once back home (in Colorado) Logan decides that he must investigate who this mysteriously average looking woman is. It turns out that her name is Beth. It also turns out that Beth lives in Louisiana. So, such as any sane man would, he decides to walk there. Yes, walk from Colorado to Louisiana! Ok, so I haven't even broached the heart of the film (the love story) and yet anyone with half a brain reading this can already tell that "The Lucky One" was clearly setting itself up to be heavily criticized by someone like me.
And don't even get me started on how barely there the conflict between Logan and Beth is. Suffice to say, "The Lucky One" is a film which could have been resolved in the first 5 minutes, by Logan just revealing to Beth the circumstances of how he came to acquire a picture of her. But, due to the fact that ALL feature length movies are over 5 minutes long, it is written into the script that Logan can't seem to find the words to tell her the truth. Talk about a stretch.
Ok, so along with the plot being a mess (and very forgettable) the characters are as well. In fact, audiences (even fans of the Sparks novels) will find it extremely difficult to care about anybody in "The Lucky One". Furthermore, whenever a truly emotional scene occurred, which had the potential of reducing everyone in the theater to tears; the lack of any expositional connection only worked to reduce the audience into a shrug inducing coma.
As for the acting, it's pretty much as average as it gets. Schilling, who should never again be cast as the female love interest, horribly overacts her way through this film. Well, maybe "horribly" is too harsh of a word, and I guess she was better here than she was in that awful "Atlas Shrugged: Part 1". But saying that is like saying that getting punched in the face is a better alternative to being kicked in the groin. Efron, on the other hand, is just not given anything to work with here. In the past he has shown himself to be better than this Hallmark Channel crap, and thus I am still holding on to the notion that Efron is just a good actor, making poor choices. But this notion has been getting more and more lonely with each passing film.
Side Note: Do you know why there hasn't been any good Nicholas Sparks adaptations since 2004's "The Notebook" or 2002's "A Walk to Remember"? Simple. "The Notebook" and "A Walk to Remember" (more so "The Notebook") were the only two adaptations working with the holy trinity: a solid script, talented leads (Mandy Moore, Ryan Gosling, James Garner and Rachel McAdams) and a credible director (Nick Cassavetes and the multi-talented Adam Shankman). So, in short, Nicholas Sparks has hardly been the problem (with the exception of "The Last Song", which he co-wrote the screenplay for). The problems seemed to have arisen when Hollywood types saw a gold mine in a fan-base which would pay to see anything with the Sparks name on it and proceeded to roll films such as "Dear John", "The Last Song", "Nights in Rodanthe" (and lets add "Message in a Bottle " in there as well) off of the assembly line as quickly and haphazardly as possible; to the dismay of boyfriends everywhere.
Final Thought: As bad as "The Lucky One" is, fans who have been waiting to see a more manly Efron (or Efron with a five o'clock shadow) will find teenage-like enjoyment in watching him walk, run, sit and stand around with no shirt; and an equal amount of enjoyment watching him stare longingly off into the distance (seemingly in deep thought). But, unless you fall into one of these categories, steer clear of "The Lucky One"; as if you needed me to tell you this.
Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland
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