rlcloud

(2013-05-19 10:28:39)

watch something - anything - else

According to my friend, a female, this movie is not worth the time. Shewants her 2 hours back. She told me I would be unlucky to watch "TheLucky One". The movie was way too schmaltzy, too many clichГѓВ©s, and theacting was wooden and not very realistic. The best part of this filmwas the German Shepherd dog, owned by the male lead. Although she likesBlythe Danner, she was not enough to overcome the poor acting anddialogue. She does not consider this movie to be even a good "chickflick". Save your time. Watch Sandra Bullock "chick flicks" instead.While "The Notebook" was an acceptable film, this one failed to rise tothe occasion.

DarkVulcan29

(2013-05-18 23:22:29)

I liked Dear John a little more.

(Logan(Zac Efron) a soldier, while stationed finds a picture of awoman, then seconds later the place where he was standing at earlierblows up, and kills some of his friends. When Logan gets home,hedecides to find out who the woman in the picture is, he finds out whereshe is living. Turns out her name is Beth(Taylor Schiling), a divorcedmom who runs a canal. When he finally meets her, he wants to tell aboutthe picture, but can't seem too, but ends up working for her. Butthings really get rough, when her crazy sheriff husband(Jay Ferguson)comes into the picture.Now this movie is not great, not terrible either. Zac and Taylor don'thave much chemistry, much as they try, they just don't connect. Thestory feels rushed, I know they are trying to get the story, but youdon't half to rush to quickly. I felt a little claustrophobic watchingthis, cause it looks like they filmed it one area for the most part.The supporting cast do alright like Blthye Danner. But all in all Ithink Dear John was better.

Brandon Chiau

(2013-05-14 20:49:00)

A lot of problems

I know this movie got a lot of decent ratings.. but seriously.. likethe conclusion of the movie is. logan got saved by beth's brother(picture) so he goes back to America to bang his sister. that's super.and yeah. at the end, the kid got someone killed because he ran away.hope he feels bad. even though the guy who got killed was a douche,he's still a person.im mad.so mad.im writing more because this stupid site needs at least 10 lines oftext.mad.

prairiestar

(2013-05-14 11:50:28)

LOVED this movie!!

I watched this movie on Memorial Day, and was reminded all over againthat freedom isn't free. So if you are a past or present member of anybranch of the US Armed Forces, or if your loved one has paid theultimate sacrifice with their life, fighting for our freedom, pleaseaccept my heartfelt thanks.I LOVED this movie. Everyone did an excellent job with their character– especially with Logan. So much feeling and emotion in his expressionand actions, even when no words were needed. I felt like I could seeinto his very soul. I saw a young man who still can hardly grasp thefact that he has survived 3 tours of war in the middle east, when manyof his comrades didn't come home. You can sense the depth of emotionand turmoil, and can easily understand why it was often hard to justfind words to express himself. You can see the military training anddiscipline, the steel resolve to control his reactions, even whenharassed by the town bully/ex-husband. There's also loyalty, concernfor others, tenderness, selflessness, willingness to work hard – he'sthe man of every woman's dream! It's easy to see that Beth is a survivor of an extremely abusivemarriage. Even though she's now divorced, she's still not free from theabusive and controlling ex-husband. She's very careful in how sheresponds or endures his abusive threats, in order to keep him fromgoing into a greater rage… and I cheered for her when she finally foundthe courage to speak up and take control of her own destiny. Keith, the ex-husband, is easy to despise, for his hateful, snarly,manipulating character… and yet in the end we saw a little glimpse ofgood in his soul as well… a little glimpse of what he might have beenif he'd only been willing to humble himself and get help much earlier. I loved the happy ending, I loved the story, and I very muchappreciated that the producers kept it clean. I can't wait for the DVD– this is a keeper!!

TxMike

(2013-05-13 18:26:14)

Feel-good romantic story with two very attractive actors.

It is good to see Zac Efron in a straight dramatic role, even though heis a 'pretty boy' he also shows that he can act well. Here he is Logan,a Marine, in Iraq. The seminal moment which leads to everything else inthis story is when he bends over to pick up a small photo in the streetrubble after a battle and when he does, a nearby explosion killsseveral of his buddies but he is OK. It is a photo of a pretty girl,and he feels that she saved his life. He can't find the owner of thephoto so he carries it with him.Back home in Colorado after three tours in Iraq, he is determined tofind the girl in the photo and thank her. There is a distinctivelighthouse in the background of her photo, an internet search forlighthouses reveals that it is in Louisiana, near the coast, so heheads there.He finds her fairly easily in the small town, running a kennel with hergrandmother. His intention is to meet her, show her the photo, thankher, and leave. But then we wouldn't have much of a movie, would we?Instead she diverts the conversation, he notices they need to hire ahelper, she is leery about him but grandma hires him. We can all prettywell figure where this is headed. The pretty lady has a son, about to turn 8, and an ex football playerand now deputy as her abusive ex husband. He is a thorn in the side ofall in this story but they manage to deal with that. Logan it turns outis a musician of sorts, plays piano, and the young boy is learningviolin. That plus chess and some outdoor fun means that they bondpretty quickly.The pretty lady is Taylor Schilling (so good as Dagny in 'AtlasShrugged') as Beth . We eventually find her back story as a high schooltrack star and off to college but getting pregnant, getting married, tothe wrong man. Her grandmother is played well by Blythe Danner as Ellie. The young boy is also good, Riley Thomas Stewart as Ben. The jealousand abusive dad is Jay R. Ferguson as Keith Clayton .My wife and I enjoyed this movie. It is a feel-good story with nofilthy language and no nudity. It is fairly predictable, but so what?It was filmed in and around New Orleans and other Louisiana locations,including Covington and St Bernard parish East of New Orleans.SPOILERS: As Logan works and gets friendly with all members of thefamily, there is the expected strife with Keith. There is a briefdramatic encounter when Keith, half-drunk and off duty pulls a gun onLogan and his dog. Logan is trained, disarms Keith, ejects theammunition magazine, clears the chamber, and gives his gun back. LaterKeith is the one who snoops around and finds the picture, gives it toBeth, she has a hard time accepting Logan's explanation but eventuallyforgives him, especially after he sees a photo of her dead brother andrealizes he knew him, and assured her he was a hero who saved his menunder attack. At the end there is a flash flood, Ben tries to cross thestream to his tree house, his dad saves him, with the help of Logan,but the tree house falls on Keith, killing him. The rest of thecharacters live happily ever after.

napierslogs

(2013-05-13 11:20:50)

The pure fate of romantic dramas in an all-romance story

"The Lucky One" is a romantic drama stripped down to its bareessentials, so it's kind of romantic and kind of dramatic. Zac Efronstars as Logan a marine who finds a photo of a beautiful girl in therubble in Iraq. It would have belonged to a fellow soldier, most likelya fallen soldier. Logan keeps it, believing it keeps him alive, andwhen he returns to the States he travels across the country to findthis woman.That's the premise. The entire story is that they fall in love. I wasreally hoping that they were going to give me something moresignificant, or at least a plot. Logan is lonely, depressed and in abrooding state of life. There is a sudden moment when he brightens upand cheerfully imposes himself onto her even though it is clear thatshe doesn't want a marine around. I thought they were going tointroduce a baiting angle of familial or brother-sister relationshipdynamics. But instead they chose the straight romantic drama route.They chose it because it is the Nicholas Sparks'books-turned-into-movies appeal. They know their audience and it willkeep them in the theatre in droves. "The Lucky One" has the idea offate or destiny determining the nature of true love set against agorgeous backdrop. And I don't mean the actors. I mean the light fromthe morning, noon or setting sun shining through the forest trees,reflecting off windshields, watching as the single leaves dance theirway down through the air. It was just all so romantic. And for me, thatwas the problem. I wanted something more.

alyshac1

(2013-05-13 12:15:59)

Hardly like the book

People usually say the book will always be better than the movie;usually this is true. But they have gotten better at deciding whatparts to keep and which to loose and still make the movie almostexactly like the book. However, "the Lucky One" to me, was looselybased on the book. The book was far more superior to the movie. Whilethe idea was the same, a lot of the content happened completelydifferent. To me Logan's dog had a huge role in this story but I guessthe producers and director felt differently so much so that the dog wasbarely in some scenes. In the book the dog was the foundation of Benand Logan's friendship. Also a huge part that irritated me was why didthey feel the need the change the signature to "X" instead of "E" onthe back of the photo! What meaning does "x" have... And no onequestioned this? I don't get it. I feel like that wouldn't have been atime consuming concept to keep. His friend victor's death was thereason he went looking for her and to me was also a huge part. I couldgo on and on about why I felt that this movie was no where near thegreat book that Nicholas Sparks wrote. It wasn't a horrible movie, justa disappointment. However I would definitely recommend reading the bookinstead of watching the movie. But then you might miss Zac Effron'ssteamy performance!

Carley Givens

(2013-05-13 05:15:31)

not another Nicholas Sparks movie

The Lucky One, yet another one book to movie based on Nicholas Sparks'movies fails again. If you haven't seen a Nicholas Sparks's movie yettake my advice and don't start. It seems as if every movie based on hisbooks loved by those who long for romance is absolutely awful in everyway. They all include a gorgeous male lead that only obtained the partbased on his looks and an innocent female lead that can't act even ifher life depended on it. Additionally, every movie based on the belovedromantic Nicholas Sparks' story line, is predictable. Either someonedies or they live happily ever after. In The Lucky One, Logan (ZacEfron) is a marine who has just come back from the Iraq war where hewas almost killed by a bomb but instead walked away from where his campblew up and found the picture of Beth (Taylor Schilling). He then goeson a journey to find his "angel" and I'm sure you can guess whathappens next.In The Lucky One Efron's character is a marine. This is kind of a farstretch for Efron don't you think? Efron is mainly known for dancingaround in a letter jacket as a high school student. Going into themovie I thought Efron would have grown up from his high-school role,but I was wrong. He lacks the seriousness of an actor especially sinceNicholas Sparks' books are so dramatic. It may be that I continue tosee him in the role of Troy on the set of High School Musical but, Ibelieve this is not the case since many others who have not seen thesemovies agree with me. Many others who have grown up from their Disneyroles into successful movies have been a success such as Miley Cyrusand Hayden Panettiere. Due to Efron's inability to improve his actingskills from Disney's standards he fails to deliver the seriousness anddiscipline that a marine should have. Instead the audience just noticesEfron's enhanced physique required by the movie. It seems as if theyknew he wasn't the man for the job so they just made him look like it.On the surface it may have seemed like a good idea since they knewtheir audience would be Efron fans who mainly only like him for hisgood looks anyway.The female lead of the movie is Taylor Schilling, who plays the role ofEfron's love interest. Schilling's character is the sister of a fallenmarine additionally lacks compassion for Efron as he struggles withcoming back from the war. Prior to the movie Taylor Schilling was anunknown. After watching The Lucky One I will be sure to not watch anyother movies with her in it. Her acting skills are more suited forcommercials and that may be a stretch. Her unknown status wasn't servedwell at all by the lack with chemistry she shared with Efron. Bothactors showed physical attraction but little emotional attachment.Additionally, Schilling acts as if she is Efron's mother instead of hislove interest. This is mostly seen at the end of the movie where itseems as if she is treating Efron exactly like her child. Finally,Schilling looks about fifteen years older than Efron. Her looks do nothelp in that she already acts like his mom and left myself questioningif she even liked him. I would compare her to the actress that we alllove to hate Kristen Stewart who is well known for her emotionlessexpressions. All in all she was a horrible pick to play as the femalelead and I would have rather seen Kristen Stewart than her.This being said DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE or any movie based on NicholasSparks' books. They all have actors similar to Efron and Schlling whofail to deliver. Not only are the main leads of The Lucky Oneunsuccessful in every way but additionally the plot lacks substance.Just describing the plot bores me due to being able to guess whathappens in the end. It doesn't help that the two leads don't make thepoorly written script exciting at all. Instead of focusing on thescript producers just casted two good-looking people that people wouldenjoy looking at. However, this attempt failed miserably leaving TheLucky One a truly unlucky one.

DarkVulcan29

(2013-05-11 16:28:22)

I liked Dear John a little more.

(Logan(Zac Efron) a soldier, while stationed finds a picture of awoman, then seconds later the place where he was standing at earlierblows up, and kills some of his friends. When Logan gets home,hedecides to find out who the woman in the picture is, he finds out whereshe is living. Turns out her name is Beth(Taylor Schiling), a divorcedmom who runs a canal. When he finally meets her, he wants to tell aboutthe picture, but can't seem too, but ends up working for her. Butthings really get rough, when her crazy sheriff ex husband(JayFerguson) comes into the picture.Now this movie is not great, not terrible either. Zac and Taylor don'thave much chemistry, much as they try, they just don't connect. Thestory feels rushed, I know they are trying to get the story, but youdon't half to rush to quickly. I felt a little claustrophobic watchingthis, cause it looks like they filmed it one area for the most part.The supporting cast do alright like Blthye Danner. But all in all Ithink Dear John was better.

napierslogs

(2013-05-11 09:49:46)

The pure fate of romantic dramas in an all-romance story

"The Lucky One" is a romantic drama stripped down to its bareessentials, so it's kind of romantic and kind of dramatic. Zac Efronstars as Logan a marine who finds a photo of a beautiful girl in therubble in Iraq. It would have belonged to a fellow soldier, most likelya fallen soldier. Logan keeps it, believing it keeps him alive, andwhen he returns to the States he travels across the country to findthis woman.That's the premise. The entire story is that they fall in love. I wasreally hoping that they were going to give me something moresignificant, or at least a plot. Logan is lonely, depressed and in abrooding state of life. There is a sudden moment when he brightens upand cheerfully imposes himself onto her even though it is clear thatshe doesn't want a marine around. I thought they were going tointroduce a baiting angle of familial or brother-sister relationshipdynamics. But instead they chose the straight romantic drama route.They chose it because it is the Nicholas Sparks'books-turned-into-movies appeal. They know their audience and it willkeep them in the theatre in droves. "The Lucky One" has the idea offate or destiny determining the nature of true love set against agorgeous backdrop. And I don't mean the actors. I mean the light fromthe morning, noon or setting sun shining through the forest trees,reflecting off windshields, watching as the single leaves dance theirway down through the air. It was just all so romantic. And for me, thatwas the problem. I wanted something more.Follow my blog at Napierslogs' Movie Expositions athttp://napierslogs.blogspot.com

gregeichelberger

(2013-05-09 18:53:39)

Moments of incredulity mar a sweet story

Viewing The Lucky One was a very frustrating experience.On one hand, the story (by Will Fetters, based upon the novel byNicholas "The Notebook" Sparks) is an often compelling tale of love,war and broken and healing hearts. On the other, however, there are somany instances where direction (by Scott Hicks, "Snow Falling onCedars," "Shine") takes a back seat, characters become one-dimensionaland the plot arcs out of control like a Jet Blue pilot.It's because of these indiscretions that I must give "The Lucky One"only the slightest of recommendations — and that is solely for theperformances of two supporting actors, Blythe Danner ("Meet theParents," and a Tony Award-winner for "Butterflies Are Free") and9-year old Riley Thomas Stewart ("The Beaver," "You Don't Mess With theZohan").Everyone else in this movie is on their own.The story has Sgt. Logan Thibault (Zac Efron, "New Year's Eve," "Me andOrson Welles") finding a photograph of a woman while on patrol inAfghanistan. The act of picking up the picture, however, saves his life(since a bomb then goes off on the spot he was at previously), so hetries to find the owner and somehow thank her for something she couldnot possibly have any control over.Unfortunately, there is no identification on the photo (just theinscription, "Keep Safe"), so he must search not only among his fellowsoldiers, but once back in the states, he must literally walk fromColorado to Louisiana in an effort to find this person.Never mind that with no idea who she is or where she lives, this wouldbe an impossible task, but for the sake of plot advancement, Logan runsinto a guy in a small town who recognizes the picture, identifies heras Beth Clayton (Taylor Schilling, "Atlas Shrugged, Part 1," "Mercy" TVseries) and reveals where she lives.Beth is a single mother who is raising a son, Ben (Stewart), and runswhat seems like a broken-down dog kennel in the middle of the woodswith her grandmother, Ellie (Danner). Logan does not reveal the purposeof his trip, so of course, she is very suspicious of a man who wouldwalk across several states just to want a job cleaning up after dogs. We feel the same way and literally beg the screen for him to let herknow why he sought her out (because we KNOW that when the secret ISfinally known, it will only bring trouble later on). He still does not,but what he does do is clean up the place up, take command of the manyunruly pooches, impress grandma and bond with the little boy (throughchess and music).As previously mentioned, Danner and Stewart steal every scene they arein; the former being feisty and fiery, the latter precociously cute butgetting in some very funny lines every now and again.As for the trouble, it partially comes in the form of the jealousex-husband, Keith (Jay R. Ferguson, "Mad Men," "Burn Notice" TVseries), who is a cracker deputy sheriff and son of the town's mayor —he doesn't like it that there is some stranger moving in on his woman. His backwoods, one-note performance would be drop-dead hilarious ifthis were the sequel to "The Dukes of Hazzard," but here it's justembarrassing. (Even a later attempt to make Keith somewhat human fallsflat on its face when his character resorts to more unnecessary threatsand intimidation).The requisite slow, budding romance then develops between Logan andBeth (she sees what a good person he is, how he cares for Ben and heprotects her from her drunken ex, plus, he gets her late father'sfishing boat to run again), and soon they are in full-fledged love(with some lust thrown in to satisfy any 14-year old boy who may havewandered in).Ah, but everything soon comes crashing down because of the secret youknew would finally come back to haunt him. And, just when we figure outwhat's going on, a plot convenience device (which includes a freakstorm, a flash flood, a broken bridge and a collapsing tree-house)lands like a spaceship from Mars to clear up everything.It's too bad that what is a fairly sweet story at its core is marred bysuch ridiculous situations cropping up at all the right times and amore damning love affair that ends with the leads having little or nochemistry (or much personality for that matter). Had "The Lucky One" broken away from the same old, tired conventionsused in these kinds of pictures it could have been infinitely moresuccessful.

tstrycula1

(2013-05-09 10:43:00)

De ja Vu!

I just got back from seeing this in theaters and let me tell you, itwas a bad attempt at every romantic clichГѓВ© that not only manages toolose our interest, but fail in every aspect of a romantic film. Firstoff, the beginning of this film seemed very rushed and didn'tcontribute to the overall plot development. It was too fast to wherethe end of the movie didn't make any sense to me. The casting was not astrong point either. Zac Efron was not very lively at all and kind ofbrought the tone of the movie down from the first minute he was onscreen. To me it was not a very good performance on his behalf andTaylor Schilling's wasn't very high standard either. The plot to thisfilm was very predictable and has been done to death. Not to mention itwas slow from the very beginning and I never got into it very much.There were many poor attempts at character development that could havebeen a lot more in depth. It seemed like they just put those cutemoments in to fill time. The script was poorly written and some of thedialog seemed very cheesy. For example, "You should be kissed everyday, every hour, every minute." This line was thrown in there in a veryawkward moment and left you feeling embarrassed for Zac Efron'slifeless character. Another thing that bothered me was that TaylorSchilling's character's life seemed too unrealistically tragic for herto be meeting new people. She was a little too happy for the way herlife was going. Now there were very minor things that I thought wereokay about this film. For instance, I thought that the music was prettygood and added a lot drama to the film. I also like the portrayal ofaverage family life and the family was very relatable as far as mostfamilies go. Overall, I didn't think much of this film, but thequestion I want you to ask yourself is, "What does this film teach us?"I couldn't think of a really good moral that came from this film like Ican with other movies. I guess that's up for you decide, but I feellike I've definitely seen this film many times before throughout thepast decades. I give it a 4 out of 10.

TheSquiss

(2013-05-08 18:07:49)

Alas, I was not the lucky one.

Whoever The Lucky One was meant to be, it certainly wasn't me.If you've read any of Nicholas Sparks' novels (I haven't) or suffered,sorry, seen any of the film adaptations (Message in a Bottle, TheNotebook etc.) then you'll understand the formula: Woman in need oflove meets man but an obstacle (death, another woman/man etc.) barstheir way to rumpy pumpy and never-ending happiness but something willoccur (argument, misunderstanding, accident etc.) resulting in thedeath or change of heart of the cause of the obstacle and theopportunity for the heartthrob to prove his prowess and win the girl.If that was a plot spoiler for you, you evidently didn't watch thetrailer (the entire film in 30 seconds – and better for it!) anddeserve only to watch such turgid, pox-ridden flicks as Extremely Loud& Incredibly Close.There are no surprises in The Lucky One other than how utterlypredictable the plot and outcome are and how thoroughly stereotypicaland two-dimensional the principal characters turn out to be. Oh, Isuppose I was marginally surprised at how a young man who essentiallystalks the sister of a dead soldier is able to turn that into a pluspoint… Scott Hicks, who deservedly won plaudits for Shine and thenripped the hearts out of the adaptations for two superb novels (SnowFalling on Cedars and Hearts in Atlantis), again directs with ajoin-the-dots approach with similar results: Yes, you'll know what thepicture is supposed to be but you won't want to frame it and hang itover the fireplace.I don't dislike the film because it's a rom-com, I dislike it becauseit's a really badly made rom-com. It's certainly no Notting Hill anddoesn't even reach the dizzy first-floor heights of Hicks' own The BoysAre Back.The presence of Blythe Danner should be a plus point (and trust me, weneed every plus point we can find in this offering), but she's beenwritten another predictably fanciable, quirky grandma role who is toobeautiful, too 'wise', too absolutely perfect to be realistic orengaging. Zac Efron's heartthrob marine, Logan, is equallyunbelievable; a good-looking, almost perfect, animal-loving,child-adoring, non-judgemental, placid, mechanic, painter, pianist whojust happens, let's not forget, to be an obsessive stalker!!! What'slovable or dependable about that? Taylor Schilling is as bland as Beth,as Jay R. Ferguson is paint-by-numbers bad as ex-husband/pantomimevillain. It's barely worth saying much more about them lest the venom Ispit corrodes my teeth on the way out.Stuff happens. All the stuff you know is going to happen happens. Theholes are big enough to swallow entire ranches. Nothing is fullythought out or explained, everything ties up neatly and you'll eitherleave the cinema in love with the pastel world of Hollywood'sschmaltziest minds or you'll escape to the car park just about in timeto vomit on your shoes without ruining the carpet.I need a new pair of Ted Bakers.

kaygoss0724

(2013-05-08 01:25:52)

Bad directing

The movie wasn't bad, BUT if you're going to do a movie based on abook... you probably want to follow the same story line. There was somuch details that weren't in the movie that basically make up the wholestory. Then there was parts in the movie that were so random. It's likethe director decided to make this movie by reading the spark notes ofthe novel.The whole movie was really fast and nothing blended together.The first time that Keith and Logan met in the movie was so random. IfI was Nicholas Sparks I would be mad at the ending result of thismovie.I think that who ever this director is should learn how to read thebook that he is wanting to make a movie of or just don't do a novelbased movie again.

Chris Tanner

(2013-05-05 23:21:25)

Never Reached Its Full Potential

I have to say that this movie is a step up from the last two NicholasSparks novels (Dear John and Last Song) but I wish they could have donebetter. To me the first half of the movie seemed rushed and neverallowed me to connect with the characters or actors playing thecharacters for that matter. Yes, there is obvious keypoints that do nottranslate from the book to the big screen but I think some of thosebenefited the transition. Both Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling are goodactors and beautiful eye candy on screen but that "connection" wasnever fully felt during the movie for me. I would wait to rent this onRedbox or even Netflix rather then paying to watch it theaters toanyone thinking about seeing it.

gradyharp

(2013-05-05 19:29:47)

Another Nicholas Sparks Recipe

JK Rowling has the Harry Potter Series, Stephenie Meyer has theTwilight Series, and Nicholas Sparks has the Nicholas Sparks recipebook series. Sparks is the Sparks Author of romantic stories where themain characters usually don't experience the typical happy ending,characters questioning their Christian belief or faith, and whosestories tend to center around a tragedy. He sells everything he writesand many of his books are readily adapted into blockbuster movies: TheLucky One, The Notebook, The Last Song, A Walk to Remember, Dear John,Message in a Bottle, and Nights in Rodanthe. Though the stories arerepetitive and filled with clichГѓВ© phrases such as 'How do you explainsomething that you can't even understand yourself?' they do serve anaudience hungry for these kinds of tales. THE LUCKY ONE won't let thosepeople down.Sgt. Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) is a marine serving in Iraq and we areintroduced after some lugubrious footage to the actual war scenes inIraq where Logan finds a photo of a girl with "keep safe" written onthe back. He is admiring it when his unit is attacked. He survives andcredits the photo for saving him. He tries to find the owner but can't,assuming he was killed. When he goes back to the States, he finds itdifficult to adjust and is still haunted by what happened. Analyzingthe photo, he finds in the background a landmark that tells him she isin Louisiana. He then goes there and finds her. He learns her name isBeth (Taylor Schilling), a divorced mother of a cute kid Ben (RileyThomas Stewart) whose loathsome sheriff ex- husband Keith (Jay R.Ferguson), who happens to be the son of the small town Judge Clayton(Adam LeFevre), makes life miserable for Beth. Beth and her grandmotherEllie (Blythe Danner) still mourn the loss of Beth's brother drake whois still 'missing in action' in Iraq. Logan tries to tell her whathappened but can't get the words out. She assumes he's there to applyfor the job they advertised looking for someone to help at her family'sbusiness, a dog kennel. He says yes but at first she gets an uneasyfeeling from him but Ellie decides to give him a chance. It isn't longthat he makes a connection with Ben and his music ability, hasconfrontations with Keith, and the rest is entirely predictableSparks-type ending.Will Fetters adapted this one for the screen and Scott Hicks directswith a rather heavy hand on the organ tremolo. Of the cast BlytheDanner gives her usual excellent professionalism. The rest of the castis according to the tastes of the viewers. Efron apparently beefed uphis physique for the role but forgot to beef up the acting. The filmcould stand a good editing to relieve the ennui. Grady Harp

Raymond Sison

(2013-05-03 18:16:08)

I liked it. I only wanted to like it more...

Zac Efron does a great job, and I admire how his career continues toevolve. Taylor Schilling is also good, and she's lovely. The film hasmany wonderful moments, and I enjoyed spending some time in theNicholas Sparks world created by the movie.That said, Zac and Taylor don't quite come off as one of the mostmemorable couples in the cinematic pantheon of romantic pairings. Forinstance, Mandy Moore and Shane West in another Nicholas Sparksadaptation, "A Walk to Remember", continue to linger in my moviememories. You can just feel the difference about that kind ofchemistry, which can be elusive and is amazing when it happens in afilm.Still, "The Lucky One" has lots of heart and provides fans of thisgenre what they hope for on the big screen. It's beautiful to look at,as one would expect. And as a time capsule of the current age that welive in, it is part of a growing collection of movies involvingveterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

blogurious

(2013-05-03 15:40:18)

Welcoming the soldier home

As the main character on the film says, life can take you places youcould never imagine. But it's always up to you to make those placescount, by simply accepting circumstances that, if not clearly at first,will eventually show that everything happens for a reason. "The Lucky One" is meant to be a romantic story and indeed it is. ZacEfron seems to be growing little by little in his talent, although hehasn't yet found the role that should dig out the best of him. The filmhas an average pace, but I wasn't quite happy with its direction.Everything seems so predictable, even though it gives way to otherideas, making you hope they might surprise you. But unfortunately, thestory is like smooth sailing and by the end you get to feel as ifsomething was missing the whole time. Romantic, but not an attentiongrabber.

scottyent

(2013-05-02 16:03:24)

Not a good movie

For the record, I like Nicolas Sparks books, I enjoyed the Notebook,and I can certainly be a sucker for a romantic movie like this one wasadvertised as. However, man was I disappointed. The acting was justterrible. I like Zac Efron in general, but dear god was he bad in thismovie. His character had a decent background and there was definitelymaterial there, but I could have fallen asleep in two minutes after heopened his mouth. Completely boring, flat, uninteresting. Mostlybecause of this, I just didn't care about the entire movie. Instead ofthinking those cute statements in a romantic movie such as this wassweet, I saw them for what they were...really cheap, silly, goofyphrases. In most other romantic movies in this genre, these stillhappen...but you actually care about the characters so it all works. Inthis movie, it just doesn't come together in any coherent or reasonableform. PLEASE skip it.

rwarr90

(2013-05-02 00:54:32)

Sh1t

Wow! I love this! It's so grand, you'll die! Do watch! If you want tosee a p3nis pump about a movie in which man can do no wrong, this isyour movie folks! Apparently Efron does everything now, includinginstruments, dog training, military man, s3x, rebuild houses, tractors,& more! There's no end to his activities, whether it's relating to theshy kid who talks or plays for no one but him, finding an identicallighthouse in the middle of nowhere, curing himself from PTSD in a day,taming the wild dogs like a pro, or frightening fellow hicks just bystanding there, this muscle's your man, here to woo random d1tzy girlsilly who suddenly found a great man in her life, unlike that douch3baghusband she only married because she got pregnant with the quarterbackjock, who also happens to be the top sheriff in town, lookout! You knowhe'll cause trouble for this loving pair! Hell, I'd marry him too! He'sa living Mary Stue!