Review of The Lucky One (2012) by Philip P — 06 Sep 2012

I know it is nothing to bypass a Nicholas Sparks adaptation at this point due to the fact we can all smell where the story is going a mile away. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm against watching them as they usually feature good enough actors to raise the caliber above Hallmark brand entertainment and at the very least we can always count on the photography being gorgeous.

Both of these are easily applied to the latest in Sparks long line of sappy love stories that always consist of the same elements with only slightly different circumstances surrounding them. Here, the story follows a retired Marine (Zac Efron) who feels his saving grace after three tours in Iraq is a picture he found that saved him from a blast that killed some of his friends.

Naturally the picture is of a lovely young woman who Efron's Logan decides to seek out and thank. And naturally, there is going to be more to it than that. The cliches are laid on thicker than syrup on a batch of southern pancakes but to the films credit it still pulls you in just far enough to get you wrapped up in the drama of a boy pining for a girl who wants nothing to do with him only to be swept off her feet.

Throw in a cute kid, some baby daddy drama and a drunk Blythe Danner as the matriarch who is all knowing and you have a perfectly plain, yet perfectly entertaining film. There is certainly nothing groundbreaking going on here, but nobody expects that and when I can watch a film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel and be the least bit surprised at how much better it was than I expected, well, it deserves some kind of credit for that.