The Lucky One

While Nicholas Sparks books and movies have a very specific audience, The Lucky One took advantage of a more demographically diverse look than most of the predecessors. With that being said, it’s still the same Nicholas Sparks, just this one has a kind of bad ass ex-marine and isn’t in North Carolina. Integrating back into society after returning from war in the Middle East, Logan, played by Zac Efron, sets out to find a woman (Taylor Schilling) whose photograph he found in the rubble of a battle. Viewing the photo as a good luck charm, he hopes to thank her. But then he can’t find the right words, accepts a job at her dog kennel and quickly falls in love with her.

The acting in the film is pretty middle of the road. Zac Efron’s likability helps develop the character that could very easily come off as disturbed and unpleasant. When conflicts arise with Schilling’s character’s ex-husband/father of her child, the scenes maintain a level of realism that isn’t expected. Isn’t the good guy always supposed to deck the bad guy in romance movies? It didn’t happen here, just like it wouldn’t in real life. That is until the film’s watery climax. That is completely unbelievable and dramatized. Oh well.

The Lucky One is not some completely unique spin on the romance genre. It has the cheesy lines. “You should be kissed every day, every hour, every minute.” Come on, that’s just an impractical amount of kissing. But the story moves along well and engages the audience. It would be nice to have something innovative thrown in there, but ultimately the film stands fine on its own. Plus, it isn’t an overtly depressing experience like some of the other recent players in the genre. I’m looking at you The Vow. That counts for something.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.