The Lucky One

Walk A Mile

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Rated: PG-13  For some sexuality and violence
Release Date: April 20, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

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Director: Scott Hicks
Writers:  Will Fetters, based on novel by Nicolas Sparks
Cast: Zac Efron, Taylor Schillings, Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart, Jay R. Ferguson

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SYNOPSIS: US Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault escapes a deadly attack during his third tour in Iraq when he finds a laminated photograph in the rumble. When discharged, he searches down the woman in the photograph to thank her for inadvertently saving his life.

REVIEW: Director Scott Hicks, known for Hearts in Atlantis and Shine, adapts a screenplay from Will Fetters from "The Lucky One" by the prolific Nicolas Sparks (The Notebook, A Walk To Remember, Dear John). One of the more acclaimed writers in recent years, Nicolas Sparks continues to write best-selling novels and those novels continue to make their way to the silver screen.

US Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Zac Efron, New Year's Eve) escapes death from a bomb denotation that kills other Marines in the area when he is distracted by a shiny laminated photograph meant for an unknown soldier. After the completion of his third tour in Iraq with other narrow escapes, Logan is discharged and sent state side. After he realizes that he feels incomplete, Logan sets off on foot with his German Shepherd Zeus in search of the woman in the photograph using the lighthouse as his guide. Traveling from Colorado to North Carolina, Logan finds the woman, Elizabeth Green (Taylor Schilling, Mercy), working out of her house with her mother Ellie (Blythe Danner, Little Fockers) running a canine kennel and training facility. Unable to tell Beth about his reasons for finding her, Logan instead  gets himself hired on as a worker at the kennel. Slowly finding friendship with Beth, Ellie, and Beth's son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart, The Beaver), Logan has to confront his feelings for Beth, the secret of the photograph, and Beth's jealous ex-husband Keith (Jay R. Ferguson, Mad Men).

The name of Nicholas Sparks carries much weight in the big screen young dramatic romance department. Attaching his name to a trailer, mentioning one of his previous movies or one of those films' stars will nearly guarantee bodies in theater seats. Does The Lucky One live up to The Notebook, one of Sparks' best adaptations? According to most probably not, but The Lucky One is grounded and enjoyable.

Scott Hicks directs a decent effort, more enjoyable than expected. Zac Efron, now almost grown up, captures the youth that are currently living and dying in the sands of foreign lands and the haunted haggard veteran that longs for meaning in life after the chaos of war. Taylor Schilling, as Beth, teeters between fear, despair, and hope as she navigates post-marriage difficulties and the loss of her soldier brother. Blythe Danner is exquisite as always, her Nana Ellie radiating wisdom, beauty and charm. Jay R. Ferguson, as the ex-husband Keith, plays the role with equal parts disdain and jealousy. And young Riley Thomas Stewart rounds out the main cast as the son Ben, offering additional levity.

There were several strange occurrences in the film that were utterly distracting to me. First, there were several scenes where the dialogue or motion were too quickly established and felt rushed. For example, when Ben gets upset he runs out of the living room, then is seen seconds later outside at the end of the front yard heading into the woods. Either he is a world class sprinter, or there should have been a little more time between leaving the room and hitting the grass. What the heck? And some of the post voice-over work was a little choppy, distracting me from otherwise decent scenes (personal peeves, sorry).

The story holds up throughout, with Logan harboring a debt of gratitude to Beth for serving as his angel throughout his last tour overseas, desperate to extends thanks to her but unable to find the words. There are great character dynamics in the film, most notably between Nana Ellie and Beth, Keith and his son Ben, and, of course, Beth and Logan. Zac Efron may have been a High School Musical graduate but since I saw him in 17 Again and Charlie St. Cloud I felt he was starting to emerge as a stand up actor in his own right. I look forward to seeing more of his work as he matures.

The Lucky One will entertain you with its scenery and its scene-stealing by Danner, Ferguson, and Stewart. The film will amuse you with some witty banter and silly interaction with some of the kenneled canines, and will finally find its dramatic center about halfway through. There were a couple missed opportunities with Beth's ex-husband as the adaptation tries to remain faithful to the source material, but if you are a huge fan of any of Nicolas Sparks' works, you will find yourself to be one of the lucky ones.

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WORTH: Matinee or Rental

What's Your Number?

Better Off Alone

Director: Mark Mylod

Writers: Gabrielle Allan, Jennifer Crittenden, Karyn Bosnak (novel "20 Times a Lady")
Cast: Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Ari Graynor, Blythe Danner, Chris Pratt

SYNOPSIS: After losing her job and breaking up with her last boyfriend, Ally reads an article that says that a woman that has had twenty or more lovers will probably not find a soulmate. Vowing off sex, Ally uses her neighbor Colin to help her track down her former lovers in an attempt to find one that has gotten better with age.

REVIEW: Experienced small-screen director Mark Mylod goes from HBOs Entourage to the big screen, bringing with him a screenplay from Scrubs scribe Gabrielle Allan and The New Adventures of Old Christine scribe Jennifer Crittenden from Karyn Bosnak's novel "20 TImes a Lady".

Ally Darling (Anna Faris from The House Bunny) thinks her life is going along fine. But when she loses her job in marketing and breaks up with her vegan bicycle messenger boyfriend, Ally finds herself on the subway looking at a women's magazine article that claims that a woman's average number of lovers is 10.5, and that a woman with 20 or more lovers will probably not find a husband. Making a list of her previous 19 boyfriends, Ally realizes that she is tittering on relationship hopelessness. Enter the cross-the-hall musician neighbor Colin (Chris Evans from Puncture, The Losers) who uses Ally to hide from his one-night stands until they clear out of his apartment the morning after. Finding out that Colin's father was a cop and taught Colin the tricks of the investigative trade, Ally strikes a deal with him   where she will continue to harbor him during his girlfriends' Walk of Shame if he agrees to run down all of her past boyfriends in the hopes of finding one that actually made something of their life.

Anna Faris, an actress with almost 40 films under her belt or on the way, continues in her kooky, physical, pratfally ways with What's Your Number?. Filled with goofy expressions and wide-eyed optimism, Faris' Ally holds hope that one of her former boyfriends will end up being the "right one". The star-spangled Avenger himself, square-jawed, steely blue-eyed Chris Evans charms his pants off, literally, as his character Colin likes to get his morning paper from the hallway with only his smile and, maybe, a towel in hand.

The story is silly, with Anna Faris even sillier. Filled with nudity from Faris, Evans and others, and gratuitous obscenities, What's Your Number? could have been just as good as a PG-13 outing without all of the extra "stuff" to give it the R-rating. Where The Hangover and Bridesmaids benefited from its restrictive rating, What's Your Number? seems to try too hard for laughs that sometimes don't hit. Evans and Faris play to their physical strengths, but sometimes even a house bunny or a shield-wielding superhero can't save the day.

WORTH: Rental

Little Fockers

What the Fock?

[Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Jessica Alba]

image from boxofficebuz.com

RANT: My housemate wanted to go see Little Fockers. So we went together. Unfortunately, her and I have very different opinions on what we thought of the movie. I guess if everyone had the same opinion about films, we would not have a need for critics!

SYNOPSIS: The Fockers plan for a get-together for the birthday of their 5-year old twins. When Jack Byrnes wants to appoint Greg the successor as the new family patriarch, Greg finds himself buckling under the weight of the responsibility.

Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and gang return for the third installment of the Gaylord Greg Focker experience. Early trailers did not show Dustin Hoffman, which worried me, but he and Barbra do come back to fill out the Focker parents Bernie and Roz. Teri Polo and Blythe Danner make up the Byrnes legacy of Pam and her mother Dina, along with De Niro's Jack. And Owen Wilson returns as Kevin to yet again pine away for Pam. Even Jinxes the cat make a couple of cameos. Joining in on the fun is Jessica Alba as a pharmaceutical rep, Andi Garcia, with big plans for Greg and his career.

Although director Paul Weitz replaced two time Focker director Jay Roach, the actors and their characters are developed enough that nothing seems amiss as they return to the Focker world. Jack is still as paranoid and distrustful as ever, regardless of the success that Greg has made for Pam and his 5 year old twins. And as always, the Byrnes women stick by their men, knowing what makes them tick. Alba's Andi and Wilson's Kevin play the wild cards, somehow causing Jack to make much ado about nothing.

The situations in this outing are not as outlandish as those in Meet the Parents or Meet the Fockers, but as the franchise matures, so does the subject matter. Even though Jack and Greg continue to face off, it is more about the legacy and family that a man leaves behind and less about the two of them squaring off. Both are the rocks of their families, just in different ways. There are a couple great moments - one involving a children's ball pit and Jaws music, another with Jessica Alba taking a swan dive into a excavated backyard pit, and a third with some erectile dysfunction medication and an epi syringe.

If you enjoyed Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers, you will be interested in how far the Byrnes and Fockers have come with the Little Fockers. But although I laughed out loud more than once, the latest effort still may not live up to the original or the sequel for some.

Worth: Matinee or Netflix

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