Tournaments Poker Blog: Is It OK To Admit This?

5/6/07posted by Gene @ 6:45 PM

The reviews are in--the critics pilloried Lucky You Too shallow. Too obvious. Too much poker. And audiences apparently agreed, as the film took in a paltry $2 million during it?s opening weekend. The film is, in every way imaginable, a complete failure.

So how do I explain that I really liked it?

I mean, I REALLY liked it. Don?t get me wrong, the movie has it's flaws, some of which are pretty glaring, and there are things I would?ve changed if I'd had the rights to the final cut?but I saw Spiderman 3 the night before, and, gracious, I could?ve cut A LOT out of that flick.

And I'll concede that I?m perhaps the perfect viewer for a film like Lucky You?I write about poker for a living, I think about the game WAY too much, I'm a romantic at heart, and I find Drew Barrymore irresistibly cute. I mean, I saw Music and Lyrics, which starred Barrymore AND Hugh Grant, and escaped unscathed. And if you?re wondering why on God's green earth I saw that particular movie, I was on a date. And she was very pretty. So there.

Anyway, let?s briefly catalog Lucky You?s merits. First of all is the opening scene, which is outstanding and sets a very high bar for the rest of the film, which, unfortunately, it?s doesn?t quite clear. The acting is quite good, especially when you consider that poker players are not by nature the most demonstrative people while plying their trade. Eric Bana plays a sleazy degenerate scumball loser skillfully enough that you don?t want to wash your hands just from looking at him. Barrymore plays a naïve, innocent, trusting, slightly underbrained singer?which is actually exactly the same role she played in Music and Lyrics. No, I take that back?in M&L she played a SONGWRITER, not a singer. And come to think of it, in that film Grant played a washed-up semi-loser with big hair.

I probably could write an essay arguing that Lucky You and Music and Lyrics are the exact same movie with different subject matter, but I don?t wanna. Because it?s a bit painful to think about that other movie, as the very pretty girl I saw it with dumped me about a month later. Sigh. Still, it was a damn good month?

Anyway! Robert Duvall is in the film as well and I enjoyed his performance immensely. Especially as, at times, he seemed to be doing a Robert De Nino impersonation. Just in his facial expressions, I kept thinking back to GoodFellas.

But the true acting stars of the movie are the big-name poker players peppered throughout. Well, not really, as there isn?t much of what Lee Strasberg would call ?acting?. But, lots and lots and lots of poker players fill the screen, and one hint we get that this movie has been in the can for a long, LONG time is the clean-shaven Barry Greenstein who sits at the table with Duvall and Bana. Sam Farha has several lines, as does Jason Lester, but three players? performances stand out because they actually portrayed other people. David Oppenheim plays a guy named Josh Cohen who makes the final table of the 2003 WSOP (don?t recall him having any lines), Jennifer Harman plays a woman named Shannon Kincaid (Shannon?) who Bana knocks out in a super-satellite.

But it?s John Hennigan who steals the show?well, he might?ve stolen the show, had his character been allowed to show a glimmer of emotion. But that?s probably why he was picked for the role of the rude, menacing shark at the WSOP final table. With his shaved head, aviator shades and dead-inside voice, Hennigan does a fine job as the Bad Guy. There?s one major problem with Hennigan?s character?his name is Ralph Kaczynski. Yes, that?s the same last name as the Unabomber. And I?m not talking about Phil Laak?I mean the Unabomber who killed people with bombs. The name choice was unfortunate, on just about every level.

Maybe I should?ve talked about this sooner?how?s the poker! Well, considerably better than the action in Casino Royale. I mean, you won?t believe this?they show a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo! In a MOVIE! No wonder the critics said that the poker play was too hard to follow?I?m write about poker for a living and I have no idea how to play Omaha Hi-Lo!

Much of the movie deals with Bana trying to rustle up enough money to buy into the 2003 WSOP. Duvall, his 2-time World Champion of a father, looms over him at all times. Actually, the looming is a bit of a problem?Duvall keeps popping up at strange times, and in strange places, and the only explanation is that he?s stalking his son. Vegas is a big place, after all.

And, this being a movie, Bana?s selfish, stupid, moderately repulsive character must be redeemed by love. Most critics thought that the relationship between the two lead characters was ludicrous and beyond belief?I didn?t think so. Bana?s a good-looking bad-boy with a motorcycle and a leather jacket, Barrymore has that sunshine kewpie-doll voice and a formidable lower lip. It?s not far outside the realm of possibility that they might be instantaneously smitten with each other, and then struggled to learn if there was something more. Like I said, I?m a romantic.

And it was very romantic to see the final table of the World Series of Poker contested at Binion?s Horseshoe again. To see a meager handful of people sitting on bleachers watching Matt Savage call the action. To see the game as it was in more innocent times?like, four years ago.

The ending of the film is a Hollywood one, and therefore NOT the one I would?ve picked. And a few other things about the flick bothered me as well?especially the fact that Robert Downey Jr. makes a brief, hilarious appearance early on?and NEVER RETURNS. I was going to say that Downey was criminally underused?but I think that might explain his situation right there.

I wonder if Lucky You might?ve found a more receptive audience had it been released 2 years ago, in the middle of the poker boom. I wonder if Lucky You might?ve found AN audience had it not been released the same day as the biggest frickin? blockbuster in movie history. The day I saw it there were four people in the theater. I can?t speak for the other three, but I liked Lucky You.

And I gotta be honest here?I didn?t expect that I would. I went in hoping it would be HORRIBLE because it?s a lot more fun ripping and shredding than writing a carefully nuanced piece of criticism. Not that this post could fairly be described as ?nuanced?. But after sitting on the shelves for 2 years and having the worst release date in movie history, I expected Lucky You would be a shambles. And it wasn?t. It was a decent movie, and if you like poker with a little bit of hokey romance thrown in, you might think so too.

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