Review of The Lucky One (2012) by Manny C — 16 Sep 2012

Lucky you if you happen to have not seen this piss poor swill. It's the cinematic equivalent of contaminated surroundings. Back in 2004 author Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook was adapted into a huge hit due to the ferocious heat generated by stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, and that led to a deluge of adaptations of Sparks' tepid works, from the lame Nights In Rodanthe to the horrid Miley Cyrus-starring crap-fest The Last Song. This one, The Lucky One, is no less insufferable. Directed by Scott Hicks, who directed Geoffrey Rush to an Oscar win in Shine, The Lucky One is ripe with everything you'd expect in a Sparks adaptation, all the substance of a travel catalog littered with poorly developed characters. You know things aren't going well when the weather essentially begins punctuating the emotions the characters should be feeling.

Zac Efron is Logan Thibault, a Marine who has endured three tours of duty in Iraq, and it was there he found a photo in some rubble of a girl he does not know, with the words 'Stay Safe' written on the back. He keeps the photo and is spared serious harm while his peers perished. Once he's home again, Logan is determined to find this good luck charm, and is led to Louisiana. Of course he basically walks there form Colorado with his trusty German Shepherd, because you know, screw credulity. The girl turns out to be Beth (Taylor Schilling), who runs a kennel with her grandmother (Blythe Danner, so lost). Beth is also a divorcee, having separated from ex Keith, the hardass sheriff, and raising their son alone. She could use an extra set of hands. On all levels.

Efron does his moody best, but there's no saving this film, not even with his talents. Efron proved himself a fine acting talent in 2009's Me and Orson Welles and is even better in the upcoming The Paperboy and the indie hit Liberal Arts. But there's nothing here that would indicate Efron's talent. The script is inertia defined, one in which Logan takes an agonizingly long amount of time to tell Beth who he is, and when he does, oh man it's just not the right time. Just look at the storm. Schilling, who had the misfortune to play Dagny Taggart in the hilariously stupid Atlas Shrugged Part I, displays zero chemistry with Efron, but it's not entirely her fault. Hicks lathers everything in sunlight and basically instructs them to pose. It's amazing a movie so determined to wring tears is pretty much devoid of real emotion, not to mention plausibility. It's Sparks to a tee.