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Lucky You

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Lucky You (2007)

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Reviews Counted:136

Fresh:40

Rotten:96

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Lucky You tries to combine a romantic story with the high-stakes world of poker, but comes up with an empty hand.

Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $5,727,530

Synopsis: Director Curtis Hanson (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, WONDER BOYS) raises the stakes and takes on Las Vegas in LUCKY YOU. Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) plays poker for a living, using every opportunity that arises... Director Curtis Hanson (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, WONDER BOYS) raises the stakes and takes on Las Vegas in LUCKY YOU. Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) plays poker for a living, using every opportunity that arises in daily life to hone his skills and test the odds. He is fueled by both a compulsion to win and the desire to do better than his father, L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall), who is a championship poker player. Huck's skills come naturally, but he lacks patience. When he meets Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore), an earnest, honest girl from Bakersfield pursuing her dream of being a singer, he sees the possibility of a real relationship for the first time. But Huck's habits are hard to break, and he'll have to make some changes if he wants to make this relationship work. Barrymore is sweet as Billie, but it is the relationship between Huck and his father that moves the story along. Huck harbors ill feelings towards L.C. from his childhood--feelings that are complicated by his burning desire to best his father at poker. Bana effectively shows the animosity Huck feels towards his father with subtle changes to his facial expression and body language, and Duvall actually makes the hard-nosed L.C. likable. Ultimately, the real star of this movie is poker. Throughout the film, it's the strategies and bets, the flops and the rivers, that draw the viewer in. Professional poker players served as consultants and extras in the film, lending authenticity to the World Series of Poker where father and son face off. Debra Messing plays Billie's sister, Horatio Sanz is Ready Eddie, who can turn any situation into a bet, and Robert Downey Jr. appears all too briefly as Huck's friend. [More]

Starring: Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, Debra Messing

Starring: Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, Debra Messing, Horatio Sanz, Jean Smart, Kelvin Han Yee, Charles Martin Smith

Director: Curtis Hanson

Director: Curtis Hanson
Screenwriter: Curtis Hanson, Eric Roth
Producer: Carol Fenelon, Denise Di Novi
Composer: Christopher Young
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Reviews for Lucky You

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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It's mostly entertaining ... but it's a little long... and is far from Hanson's best film.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
05/08/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I don't think I believed the movie Lucky You, but I sort of enjoyed it. A caveat: I enjoy watching poker on ESPN. If you don't, this movie will bore you.

Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | comment Comment
02/02/09
Tony Macklin
Tony Macklin
Fayetteville Free Weekly

... captures the manner in which both the smallest and largest events on a road trip can build a sense of camaraderie among three strangers with very little in common.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
11/12/08
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Hanson and Roth shuffle the two sides of the movie, the poker tournament and the love affair, with a Howard Hawksian feel for casual professionalism.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
04/10/08
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

Since Lucky You overdid the poker cliches to death, let me end with one of my favorites: 'You got to know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em.' It seems this film never learned that lesson.

Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | comment Comment
03/03/08
Jeff Bayer
Jeff Bayer
The Scorecard Review

Better to fold 'em than to spend time watching Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore go literally nowhere.

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment Comment
01/04/08
Bruce Bennett
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Personally, I think this is one of those misunderstood films that never got a fair shake. DVD often corrects such oversights, and my hope is that Lucky You will finally find the appreciative audience it deserves.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
09/28/07
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Lucky You undoes what Rounders did right.

Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com | comment Comment
09/21/07
Adam Fendelman
Adam Fendelman
HollywoodChicago.com

...a well-intentioned romantic-gambling film that misses the mark by providing little we haven't seen before and better.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
09/16/07
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

As soon as it has to face the real world, and deal with "emotions," it goes completely slack.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
09/14/07
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

...everything about the movie is a little out-of-it, and not just because it's been lying on the studio shelf for a couple of years.

Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment Comment
07/10/07
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Baltimore Sun
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
06/30/07
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
06/30/07
Hollywood.com

It's a shame that Barrymore's scenes are such a washout because the rest of the film is perfectly fine.

Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
06/30/07
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic

It is amazing how safe Hanson and company play it.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
06/30/07
Jonathan W. Hickman
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders

The end result is a movie that would have been better off eschewing its comedic aspirations in order to tell a serious story, which Hanson and Duvall have more than proven they’re capable of.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
06/30/07
Pete Vonder Haar
Pete Vonder Haar
Film Threat

Can't decide whether it's a cautionary tale about gambling, a weepy father-son drama or a breezy rom-com.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
06/30/07
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Gambling and love rarely mix.

Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies | comment Comment
06/30/07
Steven Snyder
Steven Snyder
Zertinet Movies

Lucky You is a decent and often engaging character study that deserved more respect from critics and the studio than it received.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
06/22/07
Stax
Stax
IGN Movies

Below average, overlong drama that fails to deliver an emotional punch, largely because it's unsure of whether it wants to be a father-son drama or a romcom.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
06/22/07
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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