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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this isn't a typical bright and bubbly Drew Barrymore romantic comedy. While there's not much sex or violence, there's plenty of antisocial behavior and compulsive gambling. One character runs a telephone scam, while others live in bathrooms to win bets. The main character steals his girlfriend's money and gambles away someone else's. He also encourages his girlfriend to lie and cheat for him. Goons looking to collect on his debts throw him into an empty pool, where he scrapes up his face. Some swearing and drinking.
Families can talk about the media's fascination with poker. Is it fun to watch people gambling? Why? Do you think there's some voyeurism involved? The movie's theatrical release date was delayed several times, making its poker-centric storyline less of the moment and timely -- does that affect how much you do or don't enjoy it? How are release dates determined to begin with? Who decides when the "best" time to put something in theaters is, and how does that affect a movie's success or failure? Families can also discuss gambling addiction. Do you agree with Huck when he says that he's not hurting anyone but himself? What would you do in his situation?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
You know televised poker showdowns have truly saturated pop culture when one is the central theme of a Hollywood movie starring America's sweetheart Drew Barrymore and great actors like Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. Unfortunately, LUCKY YOU is a bad bet, full of saccharine platitudes, endless poker scenes, and almost no chemistry between any of the characters. (Part of the problem is that the movie's theatrical release was delayed more than a year, which didn't make its poker-centric plot any fresher.)
Huck (Eric Bana) is a second-generation professional poker player looking to win the next hand. But he can't seem to keep from showing off, "blasting" his competition until he's penniless, hocking stolen goods and his late mother's wedding ring. When a big competition comes to Vegas -- along with his estranged superstar poker player dad L.C. (Duvall) and aspiring singer Billie (Barrymore) -- Huck tries to show that he's finally grown up. But can he win the competition, his father's love, and Billie's heart?
The predictability of the answer is almost nauseating. It's almost like Lucky You is trying to be a less-interesting, poker-focused version of The Color of Money. None of the characters are very well developed or well written, and non-poker players will watch the epic card-game scenes with boredom.
The worst offense of all is Billie. She's the movie's most one-dimensional character and almost seems thrown in as an afterthought, as if director Curtis Hanson really just wanted to do a movie about poker and the crazy characters who make it their livelihood, but the studio told him he'd have to toss in a love story, too.
She has the worst lines in the film, and she has to say them over and over again. It's a marathon eye-rolling session when she spouts greeting-card homilies like "Maybe giving and receiving are more complicated than winning or losing" and "I think everybody is just trying not to be lonely." Billie is so smug and self-righteous, in fact, that it's hard to imagine what Huck sees in her aside from the way her cute dresses flatter her figure.(Plus, show me a woman who will continue to talk to a man who sleeps with her and steals all her money on the same night, and I'll show you a woman who needs lots of therapy.)
In the end, the problem is that none of Lucky You's characters, save for Duvall's debonair gambler, are likeable. Say what you will about Tom Cruise's scenery-chewing bravado in Color of Money, but at least there's some energy there. Bana's performance is too subtle to keep viewers' interest for two whole hours.
Besides The Color of Money, consider other Vegas-inspired movies like Swingers, The Cooler, or Ocean's Eleven. Or, for other, more-intense perspectives on addiction, consider Leaving Las Vegas or the TV series Intervention.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentBillie hikes up her skirt to ride on a bike. Billie and Huck kiss; later it's implied that they've had sex. They lie in bed together naked, covered by a sheet. |
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ViolenceGoons threaten Huck and throw him into an empty swimming pool. |
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LanguageSome salty language, including "s--t." |
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Social BehaviorLots of gambling, stealing, and lying, though Billie insists on being honest. One character runs a 1-900 scam. |
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CommercialismLas Vegas is practically a main character. The Bellagio and Luxor casinos get a lot of attention. Canon cameras are also featured. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoLots of people casually drink beer, but none to excess. |
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