Review: The Lucky One (2012)
Cast: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner
Director: Scott Hicks
Country: USA
Genre: Drama
Official Trailer: Here
The latest Nicholas Sparks book adapted to the big screen, The Lucky One is the kind of hollow, sappy love story that hits all the expected narrative beats without ever taking a real risk we’ve come to expect. The problem is, for all the faults of a movie like The Notebook, for example - arguably the best and most successful adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book - at least it had some heart, and strong chemistry from the two leads. Here, despite all the cogs being in place and moving in much the way one assumes them to do, there seems to be very little attempt to inject some of that “heart.” Instead, it seems to rely more on a few basic ideas to attract an audience: Zac Efron, and Nicholas Sparks. If one isn’t enamored with at least one of these two things - and hopefully with both - it seems hard to imagine one finding much to enjoy.
The latest Nicholas Sparks book adapted to the big screen, The Lucky One is the kind of hollow, sappy love story that hits all the expected narrative beats without ever taking a real risk we’ve come to expect.
The film follows Logan (Zac Efron), a retired Marine back from his third tour of duty in Iraq. Appearing to suffer from PTSD soon after returning - an issue that’s conveniently ignored for most of the rest of the movie - he takes it upon himself to find the woman in a picture he found on the battlefield. He eventually finds her, and her name is Beth (Taylor Schilling). Beth lives in small town America and runs a dog training/daycare operation with her mother Ellie (Blythe Danner). But upon meeting Beth to inform her that he’s been searching for her, he instead takes up a job working for her with the dogs. There, he develops a relationship with both her and her son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) while riling up her dimensionally-challenged ex-husband Keith (Jay R. Ferguson), who also happens to be the local sheriff.
The movie plays out pretty much the way one would expect it to, and I found myself bored with Logan’s continuous refusal to tell Beth how he found her. Rather than come across as a genuine inability, it instead felt like a plot device to create tension and conflict in the third act. Yet this contrivance seemed small compared to the lack of real depth and characterization given to anyone. The most interesting character was Ellie, perhaps because she was played by Blythe Danner, who has such an enjoyable screen presence. Here, and in spite of such a small, thankless role, she exudes a vibrancy that’s lost on everyone else despite the overly bright lighting of most of the movie. That aesthetic, although pleasing at times, eventually overstays its welcome, and the various shots of nature, forests, bridges, and ponds end up feeling more like postcards from small town America than cinematically-intentional vistas.
All of this could be helped, however, if the lead actors brought something to the table. As I mentioned, this is what worked in The Notebook, as Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams brought life and energy to characters one could easily brush off as boring. However, the same cannot be said of Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling, Efron especially. It’s not that he’s especially bad, but that he’s essentially lifeless. He has very little dialogue, and so spends most of the time simply staring off into the distance, or in a semi-profile with the same stoic look. His emotional range isn’t just limited; it’s downright nonexistent.
It’s not that he’s especially bad, but that he’s essentially lifeless. He has very little dialogue, and so spends most of the time simply staring off into the distance, or in a semi-profile with the same stoic look. His emotional range isn’t just limited; it’s downright nonexistent.
And that doesn’t help a movie like this, where we know what to expect from point A to point B walking in. That doesn’t mean it has to be bad. But here, it’s as if the filmmakers just don’t care that much. They know they have a hit simply because Nicholas Sparks’ name is attached to it, and as a result, what we’re given is not only a narratively dull event, but a cinematically dull one as well. Some movies are frustrating for trying so hard to elicit emotional responses, but The Lucky One doesn’t even appear to want to try its hand at manipulation, and instead feels content to let the contrived circumstances of its characters speak for themselves. There’s no real attempt to make one connect with Logan outside of simply knowing he’s a veteran of the Iraq War, or with Beth other than simply knowing she has a nasty ex-husband and perfect young son. The very knowledge of these things does nothing if the movie gives us no reason to care about such circumstances.
No risks are taken, and despite the subject matter establishing the movie, no issues beneath the surface are ever really explored. Honestly, I’m not even sure how much fans of Nicholas Sparks’ books and previous film adaptations will find here. It’s unfortunate. I hope that Zac Efron finds better work in the future, because he showed some real promise in Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles. Sadly, The Lucky One is the kind of neatly wrapped package containing a bland present you never really wanted, and never use or think about again after opening.
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