Lucky You Reviews

This was movie was so boring. Long scenes just watching people play poker... not the most enthralling set up for a movie. I mainly stuck through this one because I do like Drew Barrymore and have enjoyed most of her movies. She's sweet in this as always, but it's not enough to make for interesting viewing. To me, anyhow. Perhaps if you are a poker enthusiast you might feel differently!

Enjoyable enough for poker fans, but overall, too many other stupid things going on. It solidified my conviction that Drew Barrymore should stick to strictly comedic roles.

Director Curtis Hanson made this comedy-drama film of professional poker players' lives quite fantastic and interesting for the fans wanted to give experiences on the poker game. He also set up an interesting interplay of characters, with the scenes between Robert Duvall and Eric Bana especially memorable.

[font=Century Gothic]In "Lucky You," Huck Cheever(Eric Bana) is a professional gambler living in Las Vegas who spends all of his time trying to gain entry to the World Series of Poker which requires a $10,000 entrance fee. During his rounds, he rescues Billie(Drew Barrymore), sister of an old acquaintance who is in town from her native Bakersfield to pursue a singing career. He gives her a tour of the Las Vegas that he is familiar with, one where the gamblers do nothing else, pretty much living and sleeping in the casinos. In one case, that's literally true. [/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]Directed by Curtis Hanson, "Lucky You" may not have a particularly strong story, but it is a well-told character study(of a character who is not really that likable but that works too), starting with the bravura opening scene set in a pawn shop. On the other hand, the daddy issues are way too familiar. And while the climax is in the expected place, events do not unfold exactly as predicted. But isn't that the way it is with true life where no matter how talented a person is, luck is always a large factor in a deciding their destiny?[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]The casting is superb, and not only with the principal actors. Most of the faces seen in the movie do not look like they came from Hollywood. Instead, they look like real people who came to Las Vegas and are still trying to find a way out. And not even Drew Barrymore is exempt from this particular spell of deglamorization. [/font]

With such an amazing pedigree (acclaimed writer, director, stars), Lucky You should have had Lady Luck at its side just based on the cards that it was dealt. What results, however, is an antiseptic drama that checked but never anted up to (let alone raised) the stakes on the table. Worse among its gambits is the movie?s insistence on masquerading as a drama. Lucky You is a closet comedy and would have worked much better coming out and waxing its humorous side?especially as evidenced by a spirited scene involving Horatio Sanz, a 5 mile run, and 18 holes of golf.

In the R-rated drama Lucky You, a high-stakes card player (Bana) looks to win the World Series of Poker, the affections of a lovelorn singer (Barrymore), and his gambler father (Robert Duvall).

Director Curtis Hanson had the luck of the draw with L.A. Confidential, arguably one of the 10 best films of the last 25 years. Truthfully, Confidential has more verve and panache in its blooper reel than Lucky You does in its entire running time. Though Bana exhibited some of the best dramatic chops of 2005 with Munich, he is not given enough to work with from his supporting players (Barrymore, Duvall) or a lackluster script. Having Forrest Gump and The Good Shepherd to his resume, so much more was expected of screenwriter Eric Roth, who gives audiences a story that plays off a man?s obvious degeneracy as a cutesy aw-shucks character trait, quickly spiraling what should have been comedy into horror.

Bottom line: Leaves the audience busted.

Cool movie I guess.

Utter Hogwash of Melo-Dramatic BullSh*t!

I do not feel particularly lucky to have watched this film.

The detachment of poker makes for unsatisfying drama.

Curtis Hanson is the last person you'd expect to skimp on characters, but he does, and it's a shame. The poker matches are great to watch - as is Duvall, only his character is two-dimensional, and there's zero chemistry between the leads. You'll find some enjoyment if you like poker, but if you're expecting rich characters from the director of LA Confidential, you'll be disappointed.

"Nobody's that much better than anybody else at the big tables. They have different styles, different ways of doing things. Everybody knows how to play. The key to winning is watching and understanding."
A good romantic drama about poker. With a great cast like Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall and Debra Messing.

Nice little character study of compulsive gambler. Film makers went to lengths to ensure gambling lifestyle rang true, and it does.

A very mediocre chick flick that tried "too late I might add" to cash in on the poker craze. The only redeeming quality is the Texas Hold Em scenes held true.

When F. Scott Fitzgerald said there were ?no second acts in American lives?, he clearly didn?t have the director Curtis Hanson. Hasnson, a director mainly known for a few populist thrillers, came out of nowhere to make one of the best movies of the late 90?s: L.A. Confidential. Hanson followed this success up with the also excellent Wonder Boys, then went on to make the Eminem vehicle 8 Mile a good three or four times better than it had any right to be. No one was quite ready to call him great, but he was definitely a director who could make very good movies. Hanson?s latest film Lucky You was in the unenviable position of opening against Spider-Man 3 after sitting on a shelf for well over half a year. Hanson?s film certainly deserved a better fate than that embarrassment, but at the same time there was a reason the film was held so long.
Eric Bana plays Huck Cheever, a Las Vegas poker player with a chip on his shoulder. Huck?s father L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall), a major figure in professional poker tournaments, had abandoned Huck?s mother when Huck was still a child. Whenever Huck plays his father at poker he finds his emotions interfering with his game. Huck begins trying to save up the ten thousand dollars needed to enter the World Series of Poker when he meets a bar singer named Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore) who he becomes emotionally attracted to.
There are a lot of movies set in the world of Las Vegas gambling. Recent examples of the genre that come to mind are Wayne Kramer?s The Cooler, Richard Kwietniowski?s Owning Mahowny, and Paul Thomas Anderson?s Hard Eight. But few movies set in this world seem to be so singularly interested in the actual gambling. There is a love story here and a story about a father and son, but neither of these seem to be as interesting to Hanson as the ?sport? of Texas hold ?em poker.
The film does poker in a much more believable and realistic way than most films. It?s always been a pet peeve of mine to see the poor way that movies like the recent James Bond vehicle Casino Royale handled card games. Most movie poker games seem to be decided by a royal flush beating a straight flush. On the very few occasions when I?ve played poker I felt incredibly lucky whenever I got my hands on two pairs. Lucky You never falls into these traps, many games here are won with small pairs, and the one time an incredible hand occurs it is looked at as an extreme aberration.
Eric Bana is one of my personal favorite actors around today, he delivered great performances in Munich and Chopper, and when he was in below average movies like Troy and Hulk he usually ended up being the best part of them. Here he?s giving what I call a ?default performance?. It?s an unchallenging role in a contemporary film that basically works to establish what Bana is like in a normal film so we can appreciate him more when he?s really trying to disappear into a role. Robert Duvall is also a nice presence, but his is also a very unchallenging role. The performance of Drew Barrymore, however, is sub-par. I?ve come to not expect much from Barrymore, and she did not surprise me here.
Hanson does nothing poorly with the direction, but also nothing special. It is a fairly straightforward production and ultimately a fairly understated production. The cinematography works fairly well, and the movie isn?t over-edited. Hanson wisely chooses not to show any of the player?s hands except for Hucks, and there is a fair amount of suspense in the card games.
Huck Cheever is a somewhat interesting character, but he doesn?t have much to do here. The story arc is just too weak to really work. The love story is formulaic and feels like an afterthought, and there?s nothing in the father and son storyline we haven?t seen before. The story is ultimately a catalyst to explore this world of professional gambling. If this is a world you as the viewer have no interest in, this isn?t the movie for you. There is however enough interesting things about this world to entertain in a fairly moderate way. There?s nothing entirely bad about the movie, its success largely just depends on the viewer?s interest in Poker tournaments. Certainly worth a look if it?s on cable, possibly worth a rent if you have a great interest in Poker.

a hell of alot better then i thought it would be, end up being one hell of a texas hold em movie goes right up there with rounders

Actually pretty interesting. I thought I'd be bored since it was about poker, but it was cute.

Ah poker the game of chance is like a mathematical equation i quite enjoyed seeing all the different games of poker and seeing the dynamic between Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore's characters and the film is a nice translation to regular people and the people who play poker
Overall i thought the film was pretty good and excellent representation of what people at home watching the poker game don't see and the harsh reality many poker players face kudos to the cast and director

I'm a sucker for poker drama, even though this one wasn't too dramatic. I did not sympathize with how Bana treated Duvall, made him seem like a real gambling loser. I did like the guy who would do any bet though, I enjoyed him living in the Aladdin bathroom for a month. Also props for the golf bet as well.

This was a hard movie to classify. As they made it out in the previews it was a romantic movie but watching it made me think of an ESPN poder game. It's almost alittle more for the guys then the girls. More of an advertising mix up i think but it seemed alittle bland. The two stars weren't really connecting much with seeming to be in love, or even falling into it. Not the best movie ever and yet not entirly boring to watch if your looking for entertainment.

the Poker scenes are so amazing they leave the rest of the film bland. It's cleat where Curtis Hanson's mind was suring the filming of this piece of work.