Movie Review Lucky You

Lucky You (2007) 

Directed by Curtis Hansen

Written by Curtis Hansen, Eric Roth

Starring Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall 

Release Date May 4th, 2007

Published May 5th, 2007

We all have things we are passionate about. Filmmakers are lucky enough and talented enough that they can expose their passion to the world. For writer-director Curtis Hanson, that passion is for the world series of poker where he sets his latest work Lucky You. Focusing on the intricate ways in which the compulsive poker player assesses the table and bets on the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, Hanson often creates great tension and rooting interest.

Unfortunately, we could get the same involvement watching Texas Hold'em tournaments on ESPN 2 and without the laconic Eric Bana and miscast Drew Barrymore interrupting the action with clichéd banter that incorporates the lingo of poker into a lame romantic aphorism. 

Eric Bana stars in Lucky You as Huck Cheever, a professional gambler who has won and lost fortunes without flinching. Prowling the Vegas strip on his motorcycle, the one thing he refuses to hock for gambling cash, Huck will do anything to find a game; even if it means hocking his mother's wedding ring for a quarter of what it's worth and then betting the pawn recovery slip when the ante is beyond his means.

Huck's father L.C (Robert Duvall) is also a gambler and they have traded this priceless heirloom a few times since Huck's mother passed away, which was not long after L.C left to become a gambler himself. L.C is the one man Huck can't seem to beat and has lost fortunes to the old man; beyond just the ring. He will, in the course of Lucky You, continue losing to his old man, even when he has the better hand.

Huck's personal life is non-existent until he meets Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore) a tourist in Vegas, visiting her sister (Debra Messing), who falls for Huck's gamblers charm. Billie quickly learns that Huck can't be trusted, he steals from her after they spent the night together, but all too soon she is giving him another chance and then another.

These characters are messy and realistic, something writer-director Curtis Hanson is good at writing. However, when compared to the indelible characters that Hanson has had a hand in creating in the past, the characters in Lucky You are just forgettable. Hanson adapted Wonder Boys with Michael Douglas's career best performance. He directed Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in a pair of winning performances in In Her Shoes and let us not forget the brilliance of his Oscar nominated L.A Confidential.

Those films were lively and intelligent. Lucky You is laconic and messy and while that may relate well to these characters, that doesn't make you want to spend any time watching it. It also doesn't help that Eric Bana's lead performance is lazy and incomprehensible or that Drew Barrymore is woefully miscast as a wannabe Vegas chanteuse.

Only the great Robert Duvall is able to elevate things to a watchable level but he is only a supporting character. When Duvall is off-screen the film loses the beat and we wait patiently for him to come back or at least for another card game to begin.

When Robert Altman directed The Company I described it as a masturbatory exercise in directorial self indulgence. Altman loved the ballet and wanted the opportunity to film it. He assembled a cast and a semblance of a story and then restlessly waded around the obstacles of his plot to get back to the stage and the ballet.

Curtis Hanson does his best Altman impression in Lucky You, taking the opportunity to indulge his love of Texas Hold'em Poker. Though ostensibly a romance, Lucky You only becomes vital and engaging when the action is on the tables. Hanson sets the film around the World Series of Poker and blatantly abandons his dull romance in favor of a solid thirty minutes of nothing but bluffs, antes and folds.

The poker scenes are involving and dramatic as Huck gets the opportunity to face off with his dad at the final table. However, aside from the father-son showdown, there really is nothing in Lucky You that you couldn't get by staying home and watching poker on ESPN 2.

Curtis Hanson's passions seem to run hot and cold. He was passionate about the corruption and deceit of L.A cops in the forties and fifties and that led to L.A Confidential. He was passionate about Michael Chabon's terrifically unique characters in the book Wonder Boys and that led to, arguably, the best work of his career.

Then again, he was also passionate about the art of rapper Eminem and that led to the lead, un-hip, hip hop movie 8 Mile. In Lucky You, Hanson's passion for Texas Hold'em has led him to another slow-witted melodrama. Let's hope that Curtis Hanson's next passion is more inspiring than that on display in Lucky You.