Starring: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Jay R. Ferguson, and Blythe Danner
Love is the theme of the weekend at the box office. After a couple of months full of comedies and action flicks, studios decided to throw the dating public a bone and try to give them something a little more romantic. With the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel The Lucky One, they failed miserably though.
US Marine Logan Thibault stumbles across a photo of a beautiful woman while serving on duty in Iraq. Because he goes to pick up the photo in some rubble, he survives an ambush bombing in which all his comrades die. In essence, the woman in the photo saves him. When Logan returns from duty to Colorado, he wants to properly thank this woman for saving his life, whoever she may be. He goes on a search for this woman on foot and finds her in Louisiana.
When Logan finally meets Beth Clayton (Taylor Schilling), the woman in the photo, he doesn't thank her. He doesn't even mention that he found the photo. Instead, he takes a job working at her grandmother's (Blythe Danner) kennel and gets to know Beth and her family a little better. Soon, a romance blossoms between Logan and Beth. The only problem is that skeletons have a way of coming out of their closet, especially when jealous ex-husbands like police officer Keith Clayton (Jay R. Ferguson) are involved.
Randomness is the name of the game in The Lucky One. There are too many inexplicable occurrences in the movie that completely undermine any semblance of coherence whatsoever. For example, Efron's Logan knows to go to Louisiana to find Beth for some strange reason. How the hell does he know this, and why does he walk there from Colorado? It's completely unrealistic and unbelievable that this fool is going to walk around the country on foot and find the one woman who indirectly saved his life. Another glaring issue is that Schilling's Beth and Danner's Nana don't have southern accents. Despite the fact that these women were born and raised in Louisiana, they don't sound like it. The movie might as well be in New England for all they care.
In a nutshell, The Lucky One sucks. Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. Don't waste your energy. In hindsight, I would have had a better time taking a nap rather than seeing this flick. Get some mystery shots ready because The Lucky One gets a wasted rating. You're going to need to run up a tab at the bar beforehand if you dare to see this one.
