Film Review: The Lucky One
Despite the way the trailer presents itself, The Lucky One is a surprisingly good romantic drama film. Whilst mostly predictable, there are some real moments of emotion here that make it stand out from most standard, gentle romantic fare.
Zac Efron (hanging up the microphone from High School Musical) plays Marine Corps Sgt. Logan Thibault, a man who discovers a photograph of a woman amidst rubble following a night raid in his third tour of duty Iraq, and tries to find the photo’s owner. Despite having no success in this quest, he finds that the photo brings him luck as he experiences several lucky escapes whilst men around him fall. On returning to Colorado, he finds himself deeply disturbed from the events of the war (flinching near an arcade where videogames involving war are being playing and nearly strangling his young nephew when the boy tries to play a prank on him, mistaking his nephew for an enemy) and so decides to take it upon himself to find the woman in the photograph and thank her for bringing him the luck he needed to survive Iraq. Although a little bland at times, Efron played the role surprisingly well, remaining likeable yet convincingly tortured by the events he witnessed.
Logan walks from Colorado to Lousiana to find this woman – one of several events in this film that one has to take with a pinch of salt – and discovers that her name is Beth (played by Taylor Schilling) and she works at a dog kennel on the outskirts of a small town, living with her ‘Nana’ (played beautifully by Blythe Danner) and her son, Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart). Upon arrival, Logan finds himself unable to confess the true reason of his visit and pretends that he is looking for work. He begins to become a useful helping hand around the kennels, irritating Beth at first, as he never seems to stop working. But as soon as she begins to warm to him, her abusive ex-husband Keith (played very menacingly by Jay R. Ferguson) – deputy sheriff of the town and son of a politician – becomes jealous of Logan and tries everything to keep him and his former family apart. Schilling plays the role well, with a great balance of weakness and then later strength, giving the audience a convincing development through her troubled life.
Despite some unconvincing scenes – in particular the lacklustre final act, which came across as a little ridiculous – this is a pleasantly surprising film, nicely sweet and sour with its charm and raw emotion. Whilst predictable and with a generous helping of kissing scene (perhaps a little too big a portion), and perhaps not something for a male audience (aside from the initial war scenes, the rest is generally romantic drama + cute dogs + occasional shirtless male lead), The Lucky One is a generally pleasing film with some gorgeous cinematography.
6/10