Like its lead characters, Lucky is wounded, lost, and impractical, but it has a messy, winning humanity and an agreeably leisurely pace that almost redeems it.
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09/26/08
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The Lucky Ones (2008)
35
%
Tomatometer
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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
It gets so preoccupied with all the local color and colorful locals, that it forgets about the people on this journey -- or their ultimate destination.
09/26/08
Top CriticCheap, ignorant, tone-deaf and condescending.
09/26/08
Top CriticIts lack of emotional thrust doesn't inspire the viewer to feel one way or another.
09/26/08
As entertainment, the film works sporadically, though Burger never finds a rhythm.
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
It's all merely unbelievable.
09/26/08
How unusual. How enjoyable.
09/26/08
The chemistry between the three soldiers is strong, but their journey rings hollow.
09/26/08
The story (by director Burger and Dirk Wittenborn) contains too many coincidences and convergences to wholly ring true.
09/26/08
By structuring this as a comic road movie, writer-director Neil Burger manages to examine the emotional isolation of returning vets without sinking into a bog of despair.
09/26/08
What gives these episodes cumulative impact is the group portrait that emerges of a well-meaning country in a state of drift.
09/26/08
[A] far-fetched take on Iraq War homecomings.
09/26/08
Top CriticWith a smooth, light touch, The Lucky Ones focuses on the idea that the present and the people who factor into it are all we really have.
09/26/08
Three Army soldiers on the road in America bond together through a series of preposterous happenings that come across as silly.
09/26/08
Of its genre, it's uncommonly good, and it's also the cheeriest movie about Iraq war vets I've yet seen.
09/26/08
After running through some pretty contrived paces for much of its running time, The Lucky Ones has some surprises in the last act that ultimately make it more satisfying than it might have been.
09/26/08
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
The predictable plotting in this well-intentioned salute would be excusable if the dialogue weren't so superficial.
09/26/08
With one head-gnawing plot contrivance after another, it may think it's the wacky Iraq version of Easy Rider but is more like this year's Around the Bend or Diamonds.
09/25/08
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August 24, 2008:
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