One of the releases being offered up as cannon fodder for this weekend's Spider-Man 3 blitzkrieg is Lucky You, the long-delayed gambling drama from director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile).
Eric Bana stars as Huck Cheever, a professional poker player in the midst of an epic cold streak. Perpetually broke, he spends his nights hustling up and down the Las Vegas strip, trying to scrounge up enough cash to enter 2003 World Series of Poker. As self-destructive as he is brilliant, Huck can't seem to find a way to reverse his fortunes. Complicating matters is the fact that Huck's estranged father, L.C. (Robert Duvall), is a world champion poker player in his own right. Things haven't been too friendly between father and son since L.C. walked out on the family years ago.
In between poker games, Huck runs into Billie (Drew Barrymore), the perennial small town girl who just recently arrived in Sin City, carrying little more than a perky smile and a suitcase full of dreams. When the two strike up an unlikely romance, Huck is soon forced to confront the array of demons that have heretofore doomed both his relationships and his gambling efforts.
Early on in the film it becomes apparent why Warner Bros. chose to shelve the project for almost two years. Lucky You is a movie that can't seem to decide what it wants to be. Is it a lighthearted romantic comedy about two opposites finding love in the unlikeliest of places? Is it a serious drama about a struggling son tormented by his famous father's long shadow? Is it a sober examination of the perils of compulsive gambling?
It doesn't help that the script is lazily written, filled with hackneyed poker-as-a-metaphor-for-life lines and improbable situations. The chemistry between Bana and Barrymore is nonexistent; the two obviously don't belong together, and yet we're supposed to believe that they're somehow falling in love.
In a movie filled with lackluster performances, Barrymore's is especially unbearable. She manages to turn what I assume is supposed to be charming naiveté into annoying vapidity. Granted, Meryl Streep would be hard-pressed to make do with the clichéd dialogue served up be screenwriter Eric Roth, but Barrymore is unable to inject even the slightest bit of depth into the character.
Lucky You spends a lot of time chronicling the action on the tables. The numerous poker-playing scenes are tolerable if only because most of them don't involve Barrymore. Director Hanson would have done well to cut out Barrymore's character entirely, as most of the movie's problems stem from efforts made to establish the Huck/Billie romantic element: tedious expository dialogue, cringeworthy lines like "I just think everybody's trying not to be lonely," lame comic relief from wacky sidekicks, etc.
Poor Robert Duvall is tasked with bringing some semblance of credibility to the film, and his performance is indeed by far the most enjoyable aspect of Lucky You. Unfortunately, he's not in nearly enough scenes to salvage this mess of a movie.
ReelzChannel Rating: 