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

The Beaver

Leave It To The Beaver

Director: Jodie Foster

Writer: Kyle Killen

Stars: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Riley Thomas Stewart, Cherry Jones

SYNOPSIS: A serious depressed and suicidal man starts talking through a puppet of a beaver in an attempt to reconnect with wife, children and employees.

Jodie Foster directs and stars in this quirky dark dramedy with Mel Gibson. As Walter Black, Mel Gibson is a man who has lost himself and his way to happiness. After years of self-help books, therapists and prescription drugs, Walter still walks through his life in an uninterested, detached haze. When his wife, Meredith (Jodie Foster) finally forces him to move out, Walter then stumbles even further into his suicidal downward spiral. Failing to hang himself on the hotel bathroom curtain rod, he is confronted by an Aussie voice talking through a beaver puppet he happened to have on his hand. Working through the puppet as his spokesman, Walter sets out to reclaim his place in his family and business.

The subject matter is difficult and strange, but Foster presents it well. This story could be any of a man struggling through life, but The Beaver’s use of, well, a beaver is at times appropriately humorous, somewhat strange and ultimately dangerous. Foster does not try to force the talking furry puppet into its own frame, content with letting the audience see Walter speak through and work the beaver together. Of course, Walter’s youngest son Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart) adores the Beaver, eager to have his father in his life. Walter’s oldest son, Porter (Anton Yelchin) , resents that he himself has any similarities with his father. And how much can Meredith (Jodie Foster) take of a beaver that never leaves her husband’s arm.

In addition to Walter, we also see the subplot of a son running from his father and what the son sees he may become, all the while finding voices for others as he gets paid to write essays and compositions for their classes. As he escapes from himself into others, he loses what it is that makes him an individual. Even his interest in the Valedictorian cheerleader leads him further down a road that is not his own.

Foster uses the son’s use of the hanging post-its of his similarities to his father as a way to define a person’s traits as individual elements that can be removed from the whole. She uses other visual elements to also denote the boxed in, but fractured essence that is the center of the film. What tools are used to build scrap wood memory boxes for the youngest son also serves as a reminder of the reality that Walter is unable to cope with.

Faint hints of the ventriloquist’s dummy in Magic comes through. Is Walter the voice for the puppet, or is he the puppet as the extension of the beaver? In the third act, a momentous confrontation ensues between Walter and the Beaver, echoing another film that I refrain from offering since it may give away too much.

In all, The Beaver is strange and interesting. Gibson’s depiction of Walter’s depression is palpable. And you can see Jodie Foster’s Meredith tired of standing by her man as he spins out of his mind. Can a man find peace through a mouthpiece while unable to cope without it? And what must a man lose or gain in order to fight back from sanity’s brink? Since this film is only in 22 theaters around the country, you will not have much opportunity to take in this film at the moment, but if you are a fan of Jodie Foster or Mel Gibson's What Women Want, this film may be attractive to you.

WORTH: Matinee or Netflix