By Adam Long

The Lucky One

Think Like A Man

April 26, 2012

The Lucky One (** ½)

The universe that the characters inhabit in both the novels and film adaptations of author Nicholas Sparks seems to be parallel to the one I actually reside in. Beautiful people fall in love and conflicts then ensue as the world seemingly conspires to keep the two apart. Eventually, all problems are resolved so that the two beautiful people at the center of the story can live, presumably happily ever after because, after all, love conquers all, or so you would be led to believe. Nobody dies of loneliness or lives in marital discontent in the world of Nicholas Sparks because the perfect love will eventually find you, though you may have to deal with the attendant baggage that comes with it.

If only life were that simple and the mysterious nature of romantic love that easy to pin down. In real life, as we all know, love occasionally conquers all, but more often than not, love lets the majority of people down in some way or another. People grow apart, hearts are broken. At the worst, some may even lose their significant other to an untimely death, a subject that was at least addressed in one of Sparks’ better romantic opuses, The Notebook. Still, I can’t help but wonder what we would find if we were to visit some of Sparks’ characters after the newness of their relationship has finally worn off. Would we see them screaming at each other and tearing their own hair out? That would certainly be some interesting subject for a future film project if Sparks ever decides to tread new ground.

Right now though all we have is The Lucky One, the latest in the Nicholas Sparks pantheon. It offers nothing much new and follows the same template that most of the author’s other works do. It isn’t the worst thing you’ll ever see but you just can’t help coming away with a feeling of ‘been there and seen that’ which permeates the film.

Taylor Schilling & Zac Efron in The Lucky One

U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Zac Efron), returning from three Iraq tours of duty, comes home searching for a woman in a photograph he discovered in the midst of combat. It seems that Logan’s life was literally saved by the simple act of bending over and picking up the picture, narrowly escaping enemy fire in the process. After improbably learning exactly where this woman, Beth (Taylor Schilling), lives just by snooping around, he ends up being offered a job by the single mother at her kennel before getting a chance to explain why he is there. This makes sense because we all know Logan can’t tell her too soon into the proceedings exactly what his motives are or we wouldn’t have a film, but never mind. 

Eventually, Logan bonds with Beth’s son and grandmother (Blythe Danner), who both live with her while he also contends with Beth’s drunken ex, Keith (Jay R. Ferguson), the villain in this piece. Of course Beth and Logan  will also find time to fall in love in spite of the past turmoil that seems to swirl around the both of them, that much is certain. We all know they will wind up together so all the audience can do is sit back and watch the journey, wondering how they will get there.

The Lucky One is a film that actually gets better as it goes along. Its first half will be excruciatingly over-familiar to anyone who has seen even a few of these types of films. The film eventually did wear me down, though, and was able to cobble together enough decent drama to keep me interested during its final act. Perhaps Nicholas Sparks doesn’t have anything new to say but you can’t fault the cast, who give it their all. Scott Hicks, acclaimed director of such films as Shine, however, seems to just be going through the motions. He hits 

the marks well enough but your enjoyment will depend on how much you like seeing the same premise that Sparks always seems to give us, albeit with a few new faces in the cast.

Think Like A Man

by Christy Lemire (AP)

What is essentially a shameless and overlong infomercial for Steve Harvey’s dating advice book becomes more tolerable and even enjoyable at times with the help of an attractive, likable cast. Harvey’s best-seller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man serves as the launching pad for four intertwined stories in which various types couple up and try to make a go of it. There’s The Dreamer (Michael Ealy) and The Woman Who Is Her Own Man (Taraji P. Henson), The Player (Romany Malco) and The 90-Day-Rule Girl (Meagan Good), and so on.

But the ladies involved are armed with the knowledge of male romantic peculiarities that they’ve gleaned from the book, Tim Story’s film makes it seem as if every woman in Los Angeles carries it around all day like a Bible, so every move they make is calculated and executed strategically to get what they want.

Conversely, the men grow suspicious, find out that the book exists and turn its words back on the women as their own weapon to get what they want.

Story has a way with a comic ensemble cast, having directed Barbershop; he keeps things moving at a (mostly) lively clip and gives LA a glossy sheen.

Taylor Schilling & Zac Efron in The Lucky One

Ealy and Henson are insanely sexy together, and stand-up comedian Kevin Hart is, unsurprisingly, a scene-stealer as the fast-talking, newly divorced guy of the bunch.

But the script from Keith Merryman and David A. New man, who also wrote Friends With Benefits, is crammed with plot and gets bogged down with contrivances. PG-13 for sexual content, some crude humor and brief drug use. 122 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

These movies are playing at the Carmike in Hickory, 304-0004, and other area theaters.