The Lucky Ones movie review & film summary (2008) | Roger Ebert (2024)

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The Lucky Ones movie review & film summary (2008) | Roger Ebert (1)

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Three soldiers, home on a month's leave from Iraq, find themselves on an odyssey from New York to Las Vegas in "The Lucky Ones." That's the setup. The journey involves your standard rest stops: friendly diners, dubious mechanics, fervent church people, roadside hookers, redneck saloons, lonely motels, tornadoes, casinos -- those sorts of things. This formula is fraught with pitfalls, but the characters and the actors redeem it with a surprising emotional impact.

Tim Robbins plays the father figure, a fiftysomething career Army sergeant who received a back injury and is returning home to St. Louis. After a blackout shuts down JFK, he rents a car and ends up taking the others on board. Rachel McAdams plays Pvt. Colee Dunn, who has a leg injury and is heading for Vegas to return a guitar belonging to her boyfriend, who was killed in the war. Michael Pena plays Sgt. T.K. Poole, injured by shrapnel in the groin, who wants to go to Vegas to find hookers who can reawaken his equipment before he meets his stateside girlfriend.

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Don't laugh when I say this: These three resemble in broad outline the three returning servicemen in the classic "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946). That film had an alcoholic older man returning to a loyal wife, a younger man returning to a sluttish wife and another afraid to marry his girlfriend because he had lost his hands. Change one man to a woman, shuffle a little, and you see what I mean.

That's doesn't mean the film is a "homage"; director and co-writer Neil Burger told me he hasn't seen the 1946 film. It means the underlying structure and character group is somewhat archetypal. What distinguished "Best Years" was its gravitas. What makes "The Lucky Ones" so gratifying to me is anything but gravitas; these three characters are simply likable, warm, sincere and often funny. The performances are so good, they carry the film right along.

Consider the events during the road trip. They are far from original. Many road movies are about what happens on the road. In "The Lucky Ones," the events are somewhat inconsequential backdrops to the three-way relationship and the sympathy we feel for the characters. Yes, there are some considerable payoffs at the end, although not exactly unforeseen. There are also some plot contrivances that seem hauled in. I noted this, but didn't much mind.

Rachel McAdams ("The Notebook," "Mean Girls") comes into her own here. Previously she has been seen mostly as a hot chick (the title of her worst film) or an idealized sweetheart. Here she is feisty, vulnerable, plucky, warm, funny. This is her coming of age as an actress. She provides yet another lesson that you can't judge acting ability until you see an actor given a chance to really stretch. Watch the poignance of the scene when she meets her boyfriend's family.

Michael Pena plays a type I recognize: young, earnest, prudent, brimming with unsolicited advice. The opposite of stereotypes. T.K. needs to grow up some more, of course. He is so obsessed with his groin injury because without sex, he says, he and his girlfriend have nothing in common. This is an upbeat film, which explains, I suppose, why the shrapnel aftereffects could be cured not by a doctor but by a hooker. If he and his girl have only sex in common, maybe she could have done the healing freelance. Along the way, Pena's T.K. provides a nudging counterpoint.

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Tim Robbins' Army lifer is, above all, a decent man, and honest enough to reveal how he received his back injury in less than heroic circumstances. We sense he's been shepherding younger soldiers for most of his career, and now, during his leave, he's doing it again. He is not stupid, but he isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. He has a plan to finance his son's college tuition by winning in Vegas. This shows a touching but unwise fatherly love. Because we know how smart and quick Robbins is, it's uncanny how convincing he is as a steady and dependable calming hand.

Movies about the war in Iraq have not been popular -- not even such a good one as "In the Valley of Elah," with its Tommy Lee Jones performance. But as I wrote after seeing "The Lucky Ones" at Toronto, it is not an Iraq war movie. These three characters could be returning home from anywhere, for countless reasons. That might be a weakness in a film that wanted to make a statement about Iraq, but these three good and brave soldiers see the war in personal, not ideological terms; the film clearly focuses on their personalities more than their experiences.

There were some reviews from Toronto that seemed to focus on its departure from some theoretical, serious war film. I believe audiences will be moved by the characters. I was.

Note: "The Best Years of Our Lives" is in the Great Movies collection at rogerebert.com.

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Film Credits

The Lucky Ones movie review & film summary (2008) | Roger Ebert (9)

The Lucky Ones (2008)

Rated Rfor language and some sexual content

113 minutes

Cast

Rachel McAdamsas Colee

Tim Robbinsas Cheaver

Michael Penaas T.K.

John Heardas Bob

Directed by

  • Neil Burger

Written by

  • Dirk Wittenborn
  • Neil Burger

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The Lucky Ones movie review & film summary (2008) | Roger Ebert (2024)

FAQs

What is the movie The Lucky Ones about? ›

What is the story of the movie The Lucky One? ›

What happens in the Lucky Ones? ›

The Lucky Ones depicts the rage and grief of May, who was the only survivor in the room the day of the shooting. On top of that, her twin brother died in the attack, so she's suffering with guilt and sorrow over only living because she just happened to be in a closet and missing her brother.

Why does Roger Ebert use 4 stars? ›

A critic must be honest enough to admit he is that man." He tried to judge a movie on its style rather than its content, and often said "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it's about what it's about." He awarded four stars to films of the highest quality, and generally a half star to those of the lowest, unless ...

What is the point of the movie Lucky? ›

It was one of Stanton's final onscreen roles before his death. The film tells the story of 90-year-old Lucky as he comes to terms with his own mortality and searches for enlightenment. It received positive reviews from critics. Ed Begley Jr.

What is the theme of the Lucky Ones? ›

It doesn't go in depth into the why it happened or what the shooter was going through, but focuses on the kids that survived that day, the “lucky ones”, and all the people affected by this tragedy. It's about PTSD, survivor's guilt, grief but it's also about hope, friendship and love.

What happens in the end of The Lucky One? ›

Keith, caught in the rope of the bridge, calls to Logan who grabs Ben and hands him to Beth. Before Logan can return for Keith, the treehouse falls on him and he is swept away in the raging river to his death. Back home, Beth thanks Logan for saving her son. Logan explains that Drake died saving one of his own men.

Is We Were the Lucky Ones Based on a true story? ›

Hulu's “We Were the Lucky Ones,” based on the book by Georgia Hunter, tells the true story of the Kurcs, a Jewish family who lived in Poland at the onset of World War II. The series follows the Kurcs as the events of the war and the Holocaust separate parents and children, tearing families apart.

What is The Lucky One based on? ›

Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling ("Orange Is the New Black") star in this romantic drama based on Nicholas Sparks' 2008 novel.

What is the plot of We Were the Lucky Ones? ›

“We Were The Lucky Ones” is a TV mini series following a Jewish family throughout the Holocaust up until they attempt to reunite post-war in 1945.

Why is the lucky ones Rated R? ›

Language is strong with plenty of curse words including the f-word. Violence has arguing of a married couple with loud yelling, a close-up bullet wound, a fight scene at a bar, injured soldiers and lots of bickering and complaining.

Where was The Lucky Ones filmed? ›

Much of the film was shot on location in Illinois at sites including Alsip, Arlington Heights, Barrington, Bolingbrook, Chicago, Edwardsville, Naperville, Niles, O' Fallon and Park Ridge and Skokie. Other locations included Chesterfield and St. Louis in Missouri, Denver and Grand Junction in Colorado, and Las Vegas.

What did Roger Ebert say before he died? ›

Sometime ago, I heard that Roger Ebert's wife, Chaz, talked about Roger's last words. He died of cancer in 2013. “Life is but a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

What was Roger Ebert's last review? ›

Terrence Malick's To the Wonder was Ebert's last review and showcased the director's iconic style and departure from his previous period pieces. Ebert defended Malick's filmmaking choices and believed that not every film needed to explain everything, highlighting the film's ambitious portrayal of spiritual longing.

Who did Roger Ebert marry? ›

Chaz Ebert (born Charlie Hammel, October 15, 1952) is an American businesswoman. She is best known as the wife and widow of film critic Roger Ebert, having been married to him from 1992 until his death in 2013.

Does The Lucky One have a sad ending? ›

Like other Sparks books the book ends in a sad twist, but The Lucky One also ends on a happy note.

Is We Were the Lucky Ones a true story? ›

Hulu's “We Were the Lucky Ones,” based on the book by Georgia Hunter, tells the true story of the Kurcs, a Jewish family who lived in Poland at the onset of World War II. The series follows the Kurcs as the events of the war and the Holocaust separate parents and children, tearing families apart.

What is The Lucky One on Netflix about? ›

Based on the beloved novel by Nicholas Sparks, Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling star in this romantic movie about a Marine who travels to Louisiana after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war. The Lucky One is on Netflix now.

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