The Lucky Ones (2008)

Here you have three people, no dramatic problems, stuck in an airport. They, strangers to each other, join in a trip across from the East to the Midwest. Ho hum. Oh, wait, Tim Robbins is in it, OK, give it 6 minutes. Then, this believable trio display the best part of human life...empathy. You fantasize, in somber spirit, that humans are like these three. The movie comes to a quiet, completed end, and you love each character and find yourself hoping they have a good life, because they are no longer Tim Robbins, Mike Pena, and Rachel McAdams, the actors. The "public" that they navigate around seem always insincere with their 'thank you for serving', although in real life, past returning veterans were treated with total disdain. The scene in jail and the phony confession to a robbery seemed...not quite honest or believable, but it was the only weak scene.

Fmovies: This is one of the funniest movies about serious topics, and I thought the acting was excellent. Almost every scene in the film has the three main actors in it, and the dynamic between them is fun to watch. The three soldiers coming home on leave find themselves stuck together, and a road trip adventure ensues. The circumstances they get into tell us a lot about the characters, and each scene gives more depth to the individuals and the relationships that develop. I really liked all three main characters even with their flaws.

I laughed more during this movie than I usually do during comedies so I guess that means it has my kind of humor. Unlike the review by "Super and Mik", I didn't think it was slow or the ending at all predictable. I thought the plot was engaging. I rated the movie 9 out of 10 stars, but I'm not sure what could have made it a ten. It's well written with a balance between comedy and drama. It's perfectly cast, and I also liked the directing and attention to detail. I highly recommend this flick. I don't understand why it flopped at the box office.

(Synopsis) After recovering from their wounds in the Iraq War, three soldiers are sent back to the United States. Sgt. T.K. Poole (Michael Pena) and Pvt. Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams) are given a 30-day leave, and Sgt. Fred Cheever (Tim Robbins) is retiring. The three soldiers now have a new mission. T.K is going home to visit his fiancée, Colee is going to return a guitar to the family of the man who saved her life, and Fred is going home to his wife in St. Louis. When they arrive at JFK Airport in New York, all fights have been canceled, because of a blackout. The three decide to rent a van and drive to St. Louis, and once there, T.K. and Colee can catch a plane to Las Vegas. What started out to be a short 14 hour trip ends up being a journey across America. Along the way, the three soldiers who had just met at JFK, become close friends.

(My Comment) This is a human interest story that explores the interpersonal aspects that war has on our soldiers, especially the ones who are injured as they return home. We learn the pitfalls of returning to this country where our soldiers are only given a token "Thank You" platitude from the public. We also see how three soldiers band together, and become in a sense a family taking care of one another. The film gives enough time in the character development of each soldier that we begin to like each soldier, and you wouldn't mind making them your friends. Their cross-county road trip is full of foolish misadventures that are memorable. For the most part, the film is serious to a point, yet it is also a comedy. I believe this small film will be one of those sleeper movies that the public will like, and it could be a hit. (QED International, Run Time 1:55, Rated R) (8/10)

The Lucky Ones fmovies. I'd never heard of Neil Burger's "The Lucky Ones" until a friend recommended it to me after catching it on a flight to Australia. Released in theatres stateside last year, it was pulled after making a paltry $267,000 in its opening week. This is a hell of a shame as what we have here is the first great movie about the Iraq war. Three soldiers return to the states on leave and through circumstances end up on a road trip to Vegas. Michael Pena is a cocky Sargeant with a wound in his manhood, struggling to come to terms with how his Fiancé will react to his impotence. Tim Robbins is a veteran trying to find the money to send his kid to college and thus stop him enlisting. But the standout performance, and quite possibly the standout performance of the past year full stop, comes from Rachel McAdams as a naive private returning her dead boyfriends guitar to his family. Her turn here is far superior to anything Oscar nominated this year and probably the best from an American actress since Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby. The films strongest point is its lack of a "message". Pro war or Anti war, you'll find your own point of view here and Burger is subtle enough to allow you the privilege. I won't give it away but this has a great ambiguous seventies style ending, just the way I like 'em. It's always a good sign when a movie ends and you wish you could get to see more of the characters, and it's an all too rare occurrence in modern cinema. For this Burger and his cast should be applauded.

The Lucky Ones (2008) ***1/2

Here's a fact: movies about the current war in Iraq have done about as well as... well, the current war in Iraq. To be fair, none of them have really been great. Even Tommy Lee Jones' In the Valley of Elah did not manage well financially, though it did manage to get half decent reception from critics. Understandably most of the films have been pretty heavy handed, and just as understandably, audiences have been satiating those taste buds with other, less controversial and subjects. But then comes along The Lucky Ones, starring Tim Robbins, Michael Pena, and Rachael McAdams. The film is about 3 soldiers returning home from Iraq; two on leave for 30 days, the other out for good. Instead of sticking to the usual downbeat tones of other Iraq films, it's more of a hopeful charmer and quite a funny one too. It's really more of a good old fashioned American road movie with soldiers than a war movie. But that didn't stop people from not going. The film got only limited release through 2008, despite gaining fans on the festival circuit.

Three soldiers return home from Iraq after meeting each other on the plane ride. When they arrive on American soil to catch their connecting flights, they discover that the airport is backed up solid due to a black out. Rather than wait around, Cheaver (Robbins) decides he's close enough to his home in St. Louis to rent a car and drive. TK and Colee (Pena and McAdams) decide they should join him. They're both heading to Las Vegas and figure they can probably make the drive and catch a flight out of St. Louis by the time they would here.

Colee is heading to Vegas to return her boyfriend's vintage guitar to his family. He died in the war. TK is heading to Vegas for some professional help before he meets up with his fiancé. Hookers and strippers? Colee inquires. Kind of - but not for the usual reasons. You see, they all have wounds, but some more sensitive than others. Cheaver injured his back in a not so heroic way, but he's more amused and relieved about it than embarrassed. Colee's been shot in the leg, and sports an unhealed wound and a limp. TK gets the best of both their worlds: he's been wounded by shrapnel in a not so public area. Now, as he says, it doesn't work right. He's going to Vegas to meet with some "professionals" to test his own little soldier out. "I can't go back to my fiancé without knowing it works, we'd have nothing to talk about!" A strange predicament for two people about to be married.

Cheaver, being the oldest in his 40s, is usually something of a father figure to the younger TK and Colee. On their trip those two first bicker before becoming closer. Colee openly talks about her late ex, and tells the tales he told her of robbing a Casino in Vegas to pay off his loan shark debts. TK responds with coldness and ridicules the dead man for his character. It results, inevitably in having to pull over and the keys inevitably being locked in the car.

The Lucky One's certainly doesn't go anywhere we really don't expect it to, but the paths it takes to get there aren't necessarily always the one's we expect. For example, given how quickly the trio arrive in St. Louis, it's obvious something will have to happen to keep it going. It's no big surprise to reveal that his wife wants a divorce, though she apparently is not cheating on him. Meanwhile their son breaks the big news that he got into Stanford, but needs 20 gra

The Lucky ones concerns three Iraq War soldiers who have just returned to the States: Fred Cheever (Tim Robbins) is out for good, and can't wait to reunite with his wife and son in St. Louis; T.K. Poole (Michael Pena) has suffered an embarrassing injury and is on his way to reconnecting with his fiancée before heading back overseas; and the also-injured Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams) is on a mission to deliver a precious guitar to her deceased boyfriend's parents in Las Vegas. These strangers are brought together when JFK Airport is shut down indefinitely. Deciding that renting a car is a better option than twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the planes to fly, they hit the road on an eventful journey that will bring them closer together than they ever would have expected... The Lucky Ones is a film that doesn't really make any statements about the war. Instead it's a character study of these 3 soldiers and it shows how the return from war can be weird and bizarre. The film handles some very dramatic subjects but, always in a light way. As in every road trip film, the character's journey is full of chance encounters and misadventures, and each one of the soldiers ends up fighting some of their own demons or coming to certain realizations. Granted, some of the events feel a bit contrived, but this is a dramedy, not a realistic war drama. The film was very well acted starting with Michael Pena, who despite doing mostly small roles, was a pleasant surprise as a central character. The veteran Tim Robbins delivered a good, even if subtle, performance as the older soldier who's life becomes upside down. However the film belongs to the gorgeous Rachel McAdams; she was feisty, charismatic and overall, just great, as she usually is. One cannot help but to fall a little bit in love with her every time she does a film. At the end of the day, The Lucky Ones is a quirky little film with a certain gentleness that works mainly, because it focuses on the characters and their emotions and not on the war and it's motives. Definitely a nice watch.

7/10