Review of Lucky Them (2013) by Manny C — 11 Jun 2014

It's not hard to imagine working for a music magazine in a world where print is dying off in favor of digital. That's the world of Lucky Them, in which Ellie Klug (Toni Collette), a rock critic for a rag in Seattle called Stax, must figure out a way to survive professionally. Her editor (Oliver Platt) thinks one big story could ebb the tide of print going extinct and so he wants Ellie to dig into the disappearance of Matthew Smith, who went off the radar a decade ago. Smith is also Ellie's ex lover in addition to a rock idol. Ellie, weary of younger men doing wrong by her, would prefer to disappear herself.

But instead she goes on the road with Charlie (Thomas Haden Church),a dot-com-tycoon-turned-documentarian who is also searching for Matthew. Haden Church imbues the film with a bouyant kick, and he and Collette make a terrific pairing.

Lucky Them is full of comic verve and sexual energy but it's a film of shocking gravity. Journalist Emily Wachtel, who wrote the script with Huck Botko, is clearly coming from somewhere personal, and director Megan Griffiths (Eden) complements her beautifully, as does exec producer Joanne Woodward and star Collette. When Ellie does end up finding Matthew (no fair spoiling what star plays him), it's a window into music's vibrant past and uncertain future. For Ellie, it's her finally finding strength in broken places.