From start to finish, there is not one single scene on display here that contains even a smidgen of reality.
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09/25/08
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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
Moments of real trauma are interrupted with sitcom wackiness, all of it connected by a terribly hokey musical score.
09/25/08
A road movie with no purpose, and a war drama with no bite.
09/25/08
Writer/director Neil Burger...takes a big step back with "The Lucky Ones," a sitcomy road movie that throws together three hard luck Iraq war vets.
09/25/08
The actual lucky ones will be sitting in a different movie theater, watching anything but this.
09/25/08
In the same way much conventional wisdom about the war is half-baked, The Lucky Ones is awash in stereotypes and generalities.
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 CriticIf a couple of the plot devices seem contrived, The Lucky Ones makes up for them with sharp, heartfelt performances, and a deceptively easygoing narrative style.
09/25/08
Lucky 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
A thoughtful study on the way foreign wars can reverberate here at home.
09/25/08
This formula is fraught with pitfalls, but the characters and the actors redeem it with a surprising emotional impact.
09/25/08
Top CriticIf The Lucky Ones wants to seem like anything more than war vets thrust into a sitcom, it should try going five minutes without a contrivance.
09/25/08
The plot functions in a rudimentary fashion setting up one contrived complication after another, engendering a desire, despite a few amusing scenes and pleasant company, for the trio to arrive at their respective destinations as soon as possible.
09/25/08
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
So laid-back and plain that the film leaves almost no impression at all.
09/25/08
It's something of a well-intentioned mess.
09/24/08
Perhaps if The Lucky Ones wasn’t so crammed with incidents, the absurd coincidences wouldn’t be so grating.
09/24/08
The Lucky Ones isn't dull, and the actors do quite nicely, especially McAdams, who's feisty, gorgeous, and as mercurial as a mood ring.
09/24/08
Top CriticIt's finally all too familiar.
09/24/08
The Lucky Ones emerges as a movie with no clear agenda other than perhaps driving an audience nuts.
09/24/08
Latest News for The Lucky Ones
August 24, 2008:
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