“… a smallest thing can change your life.”
It’ s true. Cliché, but true.
We live our lives day in, day out exactly the same way, with only minor daily modifications. I am not sure however, how big or small the moment is when you find a photograph of a beautiful woman in the middle of a battlefield which ends up saving your life. It just doesn’t seem to be one of those things that happens, or does it?
Well, the all grown up Zac Efron in the body of Sergeant Logan Thibault, in the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel, seems to disagree. The Lucky One is the story of broken people connecting through emotional burden and plain, twisted chance, which unfolds in sunsoaked North Carolina. The beautifully wild scenery of Hampton and picture perfect looking cast leaves the rather thin and weak storyline of the film almost unnoticed. The character development is surprisingly weak in terms of the the growing passion and freshly found fragile feelings between Logan and Beth (Taylor Schilling), and one is left rather unconvinced. There are only so many things that captivating cinematography and original music by Mark Isham can cover up (until some cheesy old love song clicks in).
The Lucky One will make you feel good and maybe make you notice that everything good in life always happens unexpectedly
Despite the fact the cliché filled scenes and disturbingly aesthetic looking actors do not do any justice to the actual novel, I don’ t think it’ s a bad production. The Lucky One is definitely not an award worthy festival film with complicated introvert characters and painful plot twists, but it serves a purpose as a romantic drama rather well, sitting comfortably next to films such as The Notebook and Dear John. It is visually beautiful, an easy “feel good”, smile worthy and a consolatory piece of audio pleasure, that doesn’ t burden the mind too much. If you are someone deeply in love or someone who has just lost love, you will probably shed a tear or two. You may regain OR completely lose the trust in everlasting love.
Being a critically cynical person, believing in sarcasm saving the world, I don’t think it is a film that will play with my cinematic taste buds for a long time. It is most likely that I will forget it and find myself thinking “Oh yes! I think I have seen that one…” when someone mentions it in casual conversation. But isn’ t this one of the beautiful things about dramas like The Lucky One? It’ s pretty much like “wham-bam-thank-you-very-much-please-come-again-soon” type of thing, which actually is a blessing for an overworked brain. It is a decent watch to relax to on a warm summer’s evening or a weekend indulging in ice cream and pizza with close friends. In the end its just another, not ‘too’ cheesy love story that will leave you feeling light hearted. It will make you sigh with relief, maybe smile and perhaps even add a zing to your beat.
The Lucky One is definitely something for the female representatives of our society and I doubt it will please a male audience (apart from the first 7 minutes, in which lies a beautifully shot slow motion car explosion. I would suggest to go and see it if you like light hearted Hollywood love stories, need something easy to watch, feel compelled by the nature of North Carolina or have an unexplainable crush on Zac Efron. I have to hand it to the guy – he does have a luscious set of abs.
Would I see it again? No!
Would I suggest this to my friends? To some.
Would I give it a chance? Yes.
Despite everything I have said previously, I have to admit that The Lucky One will make you feel good and maybe make you notice that everything good in life always happens unexpectedly.
Here’s a suggestion: if you like the film and believe a pin drop can change your life, read Mitch Albom’s novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It’s so much better than the film that I just finished dissecting like a lab frog.
