The Lucky One Review

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The Lucky One Review
By Darrin Jones / April 20

Ingredients: If you liked the romance The Notebook, the charm of Dear John, and the drama of Water for Elephants, then you will like this movie.

So I had originally planned to review The Moth Diaries today but, as it turns out, that movie is a limited release. But being the quick thinker that I am, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and review The Lucky One. Now since my heart is a shriveled raisin, I’ll be the first to say that I don’t get romantic dramas and don’t have a high opinion of them. So at least you’ll know where I’m coming from when I say The Lucky One is okay. The plot is pretty decent; Logan (as played by Zac Efron) is a U.S. Marine in his third tour of duty in Iraq when he finds a woman’s picture among some rubble following a nearly fatal ambush the night before. Logan goes through many more close calls but returns home without a scratch largely thanks to the mysterious woman’s photograph, or so he believes. Despite the odds, Logan does manage to find the woman in the photo, Beth (Taylor Schilling), who happens to be in a bad spot in her life as well. Her brother, who was also a marine, died while on tour in Iraq and, big shocker, the picture belonged to her brother who was killed in the ambush Logan was in. Due to a mix up when they first meet, Logan begins working at Beth’s dog kennel, without telling her about the photo. He and Beth start to grow closer together but their budding relationship is in constant danger from Beth’s bully of an ex-husband, Keith (Jay R. Ferguson), who keeps trying to drive the two apart.

The interesting premise and characters are way overshadowed by the cliched plot twists  and the dull writing. Zac Efron’s character is so perfect and unrealistic that it’s clear he’s nothing more then a machine that’s been programmed with all of the latest polls about what women want in a man. Logan is strong, quiet, brooding but able to smile, he’s an ex-solider but with absolutely no scars or mental disorders, he can fix anything and will do so without being asked, he can train dogs, is good with kids, and ladies, did I mention he will open the door for you? The fake-ness of Logan is only topped by the single-noted villainy of Jay R. Ferguson’s character, Keith. The Keith character has absolutely no point being in this film other then “bad guys make drama,” and despite whatever dramatic turn Keith takes he really doesn’t become anything more then the bad guy. Even with his last ditch effort at redemption, the writer made sure to cut Keith out of the conclusion because Keith was just that much of a reversing asshole.

False drama is what brought this movie down. Right from the start, Logan makes it clear that the only reason he wanted to find Beth was to tell her “thank you” because he honestly believed her picture was what allowed him to survive the war. Beth is introduced as a babbling airhead for the purposes of causing the mixed up situation that keeps Logan from actually telling her the truth about why he’s there but then that personality is tossed aside in favor of a more prudish and judgmental persona. The ex-husband is completely one dimensional and comes off as nothing more then an antagonist. Ever single big twist or reveal was completely irrelevant and out of place. But let’s be honest here, no one is really seeing The Lucky One because they want to see a good movie. The audience this movie will have are those that want so see a Hollywood robot that looks like Zac Efron and can cater to the fantasy of "the perfect man," and if that's the case, The Lucky One is definitely for you.