Review of Lucky You (2007) by Chads. — 10 May 2007

Since the weakest part of "Lucky You" is the romance between Huck(Eric Bana) and Billie(Drew Barrymore), it's of some small consolation that we're not sure if the aspiring lounge singer truly loves the high-stakes poker player.

Their final scene together might be more subversive than it plays. Huck is so nonchalant about money, he assumes that everybody(including his girlfriend) is the same way. Huck never seems too keyed up about winning two-and-a-half-million dollars, so why should we? Since Robert Duvall is a better actor than Bana(Are we all in agreement on this one, folks?), why not tell the story from his perspective? If the filmmaker pared him up with Michelle(Jean Smart), then maybe we'd have a livelier film.

If chess can be made to look exciting(Steven Zallian's "Searching for Bobby Fischer"), poker should be a breeze; especially if the sport is photographed by a guy who convinced us that Eminem could act.

Maybe the filmmaker intentionally drained the fun out of poker to reflect how the sport has now become so respectable, it lost that outlaw spirit somewhere along the way from its roots in the backrooms of Vegas to the bland environs of our living rooms(thanks to ESPN).

Huck seems depressed. We're depressed. "Lucky You" needed a more colorful protagonist.