Running time: 124 minutes
Starring: Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, Debra Messing, Robert Downey Jr
Rating 5 out of 10
Curtis Hanson has been one of the most consistent American film directors of the last decade, with works such as LA Confidential, Wonder Boys, 8 Mile and In Her Shoes all showing him to be a versatile film-maker with a popular touch. It's a pity then to report that Lucky You is something of a mis-step. It's a poker movie where a cold deck has been dealt and instead of a royal flush arriving on our screens, it's more akin to seven high.
The popularity of poker has exploded over the last five years thanks largely to the internet, but Hanson's film (scripted by Forrest Gump writer Eric Roth) is very much about the live game and focusses on longtime Vegas pro Huck Cheever (Eric Bana). As the World Series of 2003 approaches, we see Huck overcome a series of personal problems on his way to an assault on the title.
Firstly there's the fact that he doesn't have any money - we initially meet him hitting the pawn shops in an attempt to raise his next stake. Then there's the troubled relationship he has with his father, another pro player by the name of LC (Robert Duvall). There are clearly family issues between the two, and the film takes a long time to explain what they are. Finally, Huck has a new relationship with Billie (Drew Barrymore), and is trying not to let his love for cards ruin it.
There's nothing unbelievable about this scenario: poker players go broke all the time, and there are established father/son players on the Vegas scene. It's a known fact that going out with a poker player can be a rollercoaster ride of emotions, as they find it hard to leave what happened on the table behind. Why then is Lucky You such a disappointment?
It's largely because it's a glooomy, dour and even dull affair. Despite the glitz of Vegas in every scene, at its heart this is a story about an unlikeable character who the audience are going to find it hard to identify with. Bana's Huck is mixed up and cocky but not particularly charming. Hanson is also not the first to fail in turning poker games into exciting filmic moments, notably during a long climactic scene which fails to set the pulse racing. He's also made a fatal decision to cast Drew Barrymore in a role that is not worthy of her talents: instead of being out front and integral to the action, she plays a seceondary character who sevres as a clunky mechanism to explain the finer points of poker to the audience.
Poker fans will enjoy the Vegas milieu as well as the plethora of top players that pop up to give the film some verisimilitude, including Sammy Farha, Barry Greenstein and Doyle Brunson, but audiences at large are unlikely to want to be dealt in to this particular affair.
Paul Hurley
The popularity of poker has exploded over the last five years thanks largely to the internet, but Hanson's film (scripted by Forrest Gump writer Eric Roth) is very much about the live game and focusses on longtime Vegas pro Huck Cheever (Eric Bana). As the World Series of 2003 approaches, we see Huck overcome a series of personal problems on his way to an assault on the title.
Firstly there's the fact that he doesn't have any money - we initially meet him hitting the pawn shops in an attempt to raise his next stake. Then there's the troubled relationship he has with his father, another pro player by the name of LC (Robert Duvall). There are clearly family issues between the two, and the film takes a long time to explain what they are. Finally, Huck has a new relationship with Billie (Drew Barrymore), and is trying not to let his love for cards ruin it.
There's nothing unbelievable about this scenario: poker players go broke all the time, and there are established father/son players on the Vegas scene. It's a known fact that going out with a poker player can be a rollercoaster ride of emotions, as they find it hard to leave what happened on the table behind. Why then is Lucky You such a disappointment?
It's largely because it's a glooomy, dour and even dull affair. Despite the glitz of Vegas in every scene, at its heart this is a story about an unlikeable character who the audience are going to find it hard to identify with. Bana's Huck is mixed up and cocky but not particularly charming. Hanson is also not the first to fail in turning poker games into exciting filmic moments, notably during a long climactic scene which fails to set the pulse racing. He's also made a fatal decision to cast Drew Barrymore in a role that is not worthy of her talents: instead of being out front and integral to the action, she plays a seceondary character who sevres as a clunky mechanism to explain the finer points of poker to the audience.
Poker fans will enjoy the Vegas milieu as well as the plethora of top players that pop up to give the film some verisimilitude, including Sammy Farha, Barry Greenstein and Doyle Brunson, but audiences at large are unlikely to want to be dealt in to this particular affair.
Paul Hurley
