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Lucky
You may be playing a weak hand, but that doesn't mean it's playing a losing
game. Plagued by numerous release delays and finally dumped into theaters
(against Spider-Man 3) nearly two years after it was completed, Curtis Hanson's
low-key and likable poker drama definitely has some problems, like a tepid
romantic subplot between costars Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana, but there are
some genuine pleasures to be found in this old-school character study.
Best known for his Oscar-nominated direction of L.A. Confidential,
Hanson is a staunch defender of Hollywood tradition, and he handles Lucky You
with a delicate, John Huston-like touch, trusting the strengths of a
character-driven screenplay (by Eric Roth) and the established appeal of a
generally well-chosen cast.
Bana plays Huck Cheever, the gambling son of
a gambler, who's itching to earn a seat in the World Series of Poker, where
he'll play high-stakes Texas Hold-'Em against the world's finest, including his
semi-estranged father L.C. (Robert Duvall), with whom Huck has had a turbulent
past relationship. They're both compulsive and highly skilled competitors, but
their gambling habits don't impress Billie Offer (Barrymore), a decent,
good-natured chanteuse who's just arrived in Las Vegas for her first
professional nightclub gig. |
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| The acting is not
particularly inspired, with the exception of Robert Duvall, who plays L.C.
Cheever, the father of the protagonist. Duvall infuses his character with the
external toughness and inner conflicts that the role requires and is therefore
extremely successful in the process. There is a wide array of poker pros taking
part in this movie, but most of them have silent roles, the exceptions are
Sammy Farha and Jason Lester, who have a couple of lines each. The list of
celebrities includes among others Phil Helmut, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and
Doyle Brunson. I did not really understand why a couple of pros play characters
with different names, like Jennifer Harman, who plays Shannon Kincaid, or John
Hennigan as Ralph Kaczynski. |
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Overall, I think
that the idea of the movie was good, but the execution was deficient and the
overall quality suffered as a result. For a long time to come, poker movies are
going to be evaluated in terms of how they compare to Rounders, and in that
sense, this one comes up short. Poker players will probably get some enjoyment
from this production, but they should not expect much.
Short on reality
and thats all it had going for it - 6/10 |
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| Director |
Curtis
Hanson |
Eric
Bana |
Huck
Cheever |
| Writing |
Eric
Roth et al |
Drew
Barrymore |
Billie
Offer |
| Cinematography |
Peter
Deming |
Robert Duvall |
L. C.
Cheever |
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Robert Downey Jr. |
Telephone Jack |
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