Lucky You (2007)

This is one of those movies where the only story that you would really care about is in the trailers.

I didn't know about the movie being held by the studios for a couple of years and whatever studio politics was involved in that decision. I would imagine that it was a case of several people not wanting this thing released with their name on it. It seems then that they took any interesting moments available in the entire film and made them into the trailer. I wonder if they had to go back and shoot more scenes just to be able to get footage for the trailer.

I left the film thinking that it was some sort of Gamblers Anonymous PSA gone wrong. We see what a gambling addiction will do to people throughout the film, just how screwed up some of these people are, but it's all done as a funny aside. Sort of a "oh, look at the cute alcoholic, he can't stand up." We have men getting breast implants on a bet. Yes, I know a real guy did it but that doesn't make it sane or interesting. The same character takes a bet to live in a casino men's room for a month? Huck (is that short for huckster? surely no one would name their kid Huckleberry), our lead, is so consumed by his addiction that he begs, borrows, and steals from everyone he meets. He lives alone and sleeps on a lawn chair by his empty pool. He's sold off all of his furniture (except presumably for his bed) and mortgaged the family home to the hilt. Wait, maybe that's just the American Dream updated for the '00s. No, he's cool, he's a gambler. I can see countless addicts pointing their family to this film to justify just one more mortgage so they can make it all back and live happily ever after. Vegas is counting on you baby.

I'd also like to know how this degenerate gambler manages to park his bike in the underground garage at Bellagio? Then he proceeds to wander through the back halls and service areas of one of the world's largest casinos. Yeah, right. Maybe he's trying for a part in Ocean's 23.

I know that the actors are better than this and they all have shown it across decades of fine work. How in the world does something like this movie get made and who didn't have the chips to keep this thing on the shelf where it belonged?

Fmovies: The very sympathetic character of Huck Cheever displays some of the worst compulsive gambler behavior. It's appropriate to the movie and is certainly exhibited by many people who gamble a lot. In fact, it might be the most realistic part of the movie. Unfortunately, the only thing that keeps spouses sane is not knowing

I'm a very frequent poker player and sports bettor, and I enjoyed the movie. But the less intimately acquainted my wife is with the pitfalls of gambling the better she'll sleep. Besides, all the Drew Barrymore scenes really seemed flat to me so it may not even be a very good date movie.

If gambling and poker interests you, then you will love this film. Otherwise, it's too long and in some parts boring because there are so many long card playing scenes. Did the movie have to show so many hands of poker being played for us to follow the story? Eric Bana plays a gambler who wins some but loses a lot. His father, Robert Duval, is a world famous gambler. Duval is fabulous as usual in his role. Drew Barrymore plays the girl Bana pursues. He "borrows" money from her and gets in the dog house but alls well in the end. There are a few funny parts where his friend sets up silly wagers. Like staying in a bathroom and the whole run/golf bet. The climax is the world poker tournament and whether or not Bana can win it.

FINAL VERDICT: I like the actors in this, but I don't know anything about poker, so didn't follow that part with the checking and table tapping. A little too much of the technical stuff. The card playing should have been shorter. But I still recommend it if you like any of the actors.

Lucky You fmovies. Only the most die-hard poker fans will find much to cheer about in "Lucky You," a Freudian drama set in the high-stakes world of the Vegas strip.

Eric Bana ("Munich") and Robert Duvall star as Huck and L.C. Cheever, two world-class poker players with many unresolved father/son issues between them. Huck resents the fact that he's had to live virtually all his adult life in the shadow of his famous father who, with his constant carousing, stealing and gambling, made life a living hell for Huck's mother virtually till the day she died. What Huck doesn't realize - and this is where Doctor Freud comes in - is that he is pretty much following in his father's footsteps both in his choice of profession and his relations with women. Meanwhile, L.C. hangs out around the casinos and coffee shops of the city trying to reconcile with his boy, while at the same time, doling out unasked-for advice about how the young man should be living his life both at and away from the poker table. Drew Barrymore completes the cast as Billie Offer, a young, morally upright ingénue from Bakersfield who has come to Sin City to begin her career as a singer and who winds up falling under the spell of the ethically-challenged Huck. Or could it be that the beatific Billie is really an angel of the Lord come to lead the iniquitous Huck out of this modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah?

The scenes between Bana and Barrymore are probably the best in the film and one wishes that more time would have been spent developing that relationship instead of sitting around the poker table. For whenever the story moves into the casino, the movie stops dead in its tracks, proving once again that poker, by its very nature, makes for one of the least compelling sports ever to be depicted on film. Anyone without a thorough working knowledge of the ins and outs of Texas Hold'em, in particular, is going to find himself lost in all the arcane trivia of the poker-playing scenes (which take up quite a large chunk of the movie's overall running time, I might add). Even worse is the fact that the father/son angle is so clichéd and hackneyed at this point that even actors of the caliber of Bana and Duvall (and they are both excellent) can't be expected to really pull it off.

There are some quality elements in "Lucky You." Director Curtis Hanson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, proves yet again - as he did in "LA Confidential" and "8 Mile" - that he knows how to extract the essence of a locale to build atmosphere and mood. Moreover, the interactions between Huck and Billie are often flavorful and intriguing (which is more than can be said for those between Huck and his dad). The performances are uniformly impressive, with Barrymore, in particular, showing a bit more range here than she has in most of her previous roles.

Hanson has populated his film with a number of real life poker playing celebrities, which may be of interest to the aficionados but won't mean much to the rest of us. Sad to say, but the lackluster "Lucky You" is unlikely to appeal to anyone not already passionate about professional poker - and unlikely to garner the sport itself many new fans.

The advertisements for "Lucky You" made it out to be a romantic comedy but Drew Barrymore is hardly in the movie. The movie is mostly of guys playing poker.

If you are a big poker fan, you will probably going to like it. Everyone else will probably be bored. If you thought the scenes in "Casino Royal" of guys playing cards was exciting, you will really like this film.

Ten years ago Curtis Hanson made "L.A. Confidential," one of the greatest films of all time. Since then, he has made some decent films but none of them have been really great.

"Lucky You" is well made and has good production quality. Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall are always good. Eric Bana is an okay actor but lacks charisma. It doesn't help that his character is a big time loser and a compulsive gambler.

"Lucky You" will be a big hit with spectator poker fans, but everyone else is likely to be disappointed.

Lest be duped by the trailers that make it seem a romantic comedy set in the world of high-stakes gambling, one should approach "Lucky You" as more of a movie about poker with a generous amount of father-son conflict thrown in for good measure. The romantic angle is just an arbitrarily (in fact, awkwardly) placed distraction that sticks out like a sore thumb (hint: Drew Barrymore's character is good for only around 20-30 minutes of this 2-hour movie).

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) is a regular high-stakes poker player in Las Vegas whose skills in reading body languages of his opponents is hampered by his rashness. Constantly in the shadow of his estranged father L.C. (Robert Duvall), a two-time World Series of Poker champion who never fails to rub in his son's weakness, Huck falls for Billie (Barrymore) - a Vegas newbie who's just got a job singing in a bar. Problem is, Billie's cynicism-free personality clashes with Huck's callous opportunistic character.

And it goes without saying that as cards are dealt and the stakes are raised, there will be some fixings to occur among Huck and the two people around him.

Strangely, after being in projects with involving narratives, director Curtis Hanson and co-writer Eric Roth fail to draw any meaningful yarn with the characters. In fact, "Lucky You" works better when it sets its focus on the poker table, and not trying to deal with any of tepid characterizations. But such ambivalence ultimately leads to a hollow feeling.

For those who enjoy watching poker, it might be a worthy deal (at least the final act). But for anyone else, considering the people involved in this project, it leaves the feeling of an empty hand.