The Lucky One
Review by Anthony Morris
When US marine Logan (Zac Efron) survives an Iraqi mortar attack, he
blames his survival on a mysterious photo he found moments
earlier. Now back in the US and not coping at all well with
his memories of a violent past (yes, kids playing violent video games
set him on edge), he sets off – on foot – to track down the woman
(Taylor Schilling) in the photo. Naturally, when he finds
her (a boat in the photo’s background was the clue) he can’t tell her
why he’s arrived in her life, because if he could this movie would run
twenty minutes. So instead she gradually accepts him as
just a drifter who’s good with dogs (she runs an animal shelter so she
assumes he came about a job) and kids (she has a son), but her local
sheriff ex-husband isn’t so trusting. This no-excuses,
no-distractions romance is a real big screen rarity. There’s no jokes
and not a whole lot of drama for much of its’ length, but Australian
director Scott Hicks (working from a novel by The Notebook author
Nicholas Sparks) does a solid job of animating a story that’s really
just about two damaged people finding each other. His
steady touch is perfect for this lightweight material, letting Ephron
and Schilling warm to each other without turning the whole thing to
mush. That doesn’t make it a classic by any means – while
it’s never exactly boring, chances are you come out of the cinema
struggling to remember how it could have run ninety minutes – but if
you’re looking for big screen, small scale love this certainly delivers. 3 out
of 5
The Lucky One
Australian release: 19th April,
2012
Official
Site: The Lucky One
Cast: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Jay R. Ferguson, Blythe Danner
Director: Scott Hicks
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