Soldiers deserve a better tribute than this trite, phony dreck.
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09/11/08
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The Lucky Ones (2008)
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Reviews Counted:68
Fresh:24
Rotten:44
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: The Lucky Ones features heartfelt performances, but is undone by the plot's overwrought parade of coincidence and contrivance.
Synopsis: Neil Burger's follow-up to his accomplished period piece, THE ILLUSIONIST, is an affecting naturalistic modern drama. THE LUCKY ONES concerns three Iraq War soldiers who have just returned to the... [More]
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, Michael Pena, Molly Hagan
Director: Neil Burger
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Reviews for The Lucky Ones
Cheap, ignorant, tone-deaf and condescending.
09/26/08
Top CriticSometimes, however, empty, contrived fantasies are just empty, contrived fantasies, as is certainly the case with this embarrassingly phony cross between Grace Is Gone, Home of the Brave and, believe it or not, Twister.
09/21/08
From start to finish, there is not one single scene on display here that contains even a smidgen of reality.
09/25/08
It's hard to find the genuine heartfelt moments in The Lucky Ones, a story about three Iraq War soldiers on a brief road trip back in the U.S., under the clutter of narrative contrivances and coincidences.
09/16/08
Top CriticIn this interview, The Lucky Ones director Neil Burger speaks about understanding the modern soldier, his surprising casting choice of anti-war activist Tim Robbins as a veteran and why he relates the story while the Iraq conflict continues.
09/30/08
It feels like the writers were trying for dialogue that sounded natural and improvisational. Instead, it feels scripted and rehearsed. It's all phony balony!
10/06/08
The Lucky Ones emerges as a movie with no clear agenda other than perhaps driving an audience nuts.
09/24/08
The Lucky Ones takes a decent premise -- three soldiers returning from Iraq facing domestic challenges upon their arrival home -- and crams so much forced drama into it that the movie devolves into a hack buddy picture.
09/25/08
Director Neil Burger keeps things light, and the actors are more than engaging. ... But there's something centrally pat and predictable about the coincidence-laden story.
09/25/08
Top CriticLucky might have its heart in the right place trying to soften the image of the average Iraq War soldier, but this is a clumsy, insufferable feature film of excessive formula and embarrassing dramatic development.
09/25/08
I'm sure a lot of bad fiction has been written about veterans and current soldiers in the Iraq War. It's just not that often that it gets shot and projected on to a big screen.
09/26/08
Director and co-writer Neil Burger's drama uses the war as a springboard to tell a darkly funny, and sometimes profoundly moving, story of the men and women who are the warriors.
09/26/08
Each secret is more implausible than the last.
09/26/08
Its lack of emotional thrust doesn't inspire the viewer to feel one way or another.
09/26/08
This is not the worst of the Iraq-themed movies of the past few years, and it's possibly the best acted of any of them. But you wish the bonding of these three people wasn't diluted by the trite scenarios and artificial circumstances of their saga.
09/26/08
If not for the warmth and likability of its characters and those playing them, The Lucky Ones would be a tiresome formula picture.
03/18/09
[A] far-fetched take on Iraq War homecomings.
09/26/08
Top Critic...benefits substantially from the strength and charisma of its three leads...
09/27/08
The biggest disappointment is in this script, written by Dirk Wittenborn and Neil Burger who gave us the delightful Illusionistin 2006.
09/27/08
Latest News for The Lucky Ones
August 24, 2008:
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