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Thursday, April 19, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW
The Lucky One
A Salute To Pastoral, Golden-Honey Blue-Eyed Americana
Taylor Schilling as Beth in Scott Hicks's romantic drama "The Lucky One".
Alan Markfield/Warner Brothers
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Thursday,
April 19,
2012
Scott
Hicks takes on "The Lucky One", the latest Nicholas Sparks novel to
be adapted to the big screen, starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling. Mr.
Efron is Logan, a marine with three tours of duty under his belt. He's
haunted by the memory of seeing a fellow soldier dying in combat, and carries a
photo of a woman that the dead soldier had and lost. Logan walks 942 miles
from Colorado to Louisiana (or is it North Carolina?) to meet Beth (Ms.
Schilling), the woman in the photo, but takes the dog walker-animal cleaner job
Beth has advertised in the local paper. He has something he's burning to
tell her.
Beth is in mourning for her brother Drake and is prickly and skeptical of Logan,
whom Beth's grandmother (Blythe Danner) takes quite a shine to. Soon, the
ice in Beth's heart will be melted by the film's honey-golden hues and blue-eyed
Americana. She and Logan will fall for each other. And fall hard.
"The Lucky One", a transparent film that telegraphs its emotional punches and
physical playgrounds as per Sparks' forlorn, Kleenex-inducing works, stacks the
deck with cardboard characters who are every bit designed for the stage that Mr.
Hicks, a capable director, and writer Will Fetters puts them on. There's
the precocious and talented young boy involved in a tug of war between Beth and
ex-husband and perpetually miserable and bullying town sheriff Keith (Jay R.
Ferguson, in a snarling, one-note turn). There's the tight jeans and
musculature of the film's noble, monotone stalwart Logan, and if that's not
enough, there's the sapphire-eyed trance of Beth, ever-present in skimpy,
see-through clothing.
Logan's got Beth in a lather, and for good measure Ms. Danner, the only actor
worth watching, makes sure everyone in the audience notices if they didn't
already gather the obvious. "That's as clean as it will ever be," Ms.
Danner's Ellie wryly observes in a funny moment. Caught off guard, Beth
flips a pot out of her soapy hands as if to say, "how dare you notice me
noticing him?" The cameras in Mr. Hicks' film are good product placement
for a Levi's, Wrangler or Abercrombie & Fitch commercial. And those suds!
That golden glow? The pastoral visions! Smell that air! That's
America! Uh-huh. Taste it! It's all dream-boat, countrified,
manipulative Dawson's Creek-type theater, without the creek or Dawson.
Ms. Schilling's occasional over-acted flourishes and super-emphasized reaction
shots are painful. I would bet that she's a far stronger talent than she
shows here, and while Ms. Schilling is a very intelligent and highly attractive
presence I'm not sure she always plays Beth with a great deal of conviction.
She seems to be forcing a performance rather than embody a character.
By contrast, Mr. Efron has come of age as an actor in this film, lending a
measure of strength if not overwhelming substance as a disaffected loner marine
whose own heart is aching for resolution. Beth and Logan allow sparks to
fly and "The Lucky One" has a scene or two racy enough to earn an R rating on a
good day. Yet this is not a good day, because "The Lucky One" is unlucky
in just about every area but the love department -- and you saw that coming just
by looking at the film's poster, didn't you?
With: Riley Thomas Stewart, Adam LeFevre.
"The Lucky One" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of
America for some sexuality and violence.
The film's running time is one hour and 41 minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2012. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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