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Review #122 of 365
Film: Just My Luck (2006) [PG-13] 103 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $10.50
Where Viewed: Silver City Metropolis, Burnaby, BC Canada
When 1st Seen: 13 May 2006
Time: 10:15 p.m.
Review Dedicated to: Alex “Figo” B. of Chicago, IL
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DVD | soundtrack |
Just my luck, I arrived at the Silver City Metropolis Cinema just in time to miss the 7:30 p.m. showing of Just My Luck causing me to have to wait until the 10:15 showing—I guess the Canadians like to make sure there is time to really clean the theatres in between showings. Now this can spell disaster to go to a film this late at night. The risk of dozing off into Slumberland is very, very high. I figure if I don’t fall asleep during a movie under such conditions; that, at least, is a pretty good sign that the movie is decently entertaining. As it turns out, I was fully awake and entertained by this film. Which sort of surprises me in a way. It might be helpful to put up a bit of a chart here with what this movie had going for and against it in my mind before I got into the theatre.
| Going Against It | Going For It |
| A lot of people are growing in their disenchantment with Lindsay Lohan. | I thought she was really good recent movies, and she’s worthy of another shot. |
The preview wasn’t a preview it was the Reader’s Digest version of the film. So, we already knew too much of the plot | What we knew, looked like it had some promise. |
Chris Pine? | Oh, yeah, Princess Diaries 2 |
| Looks like Freaky Friday + Diaries of a Teenage Drama Queen | I loved Freaky Friday! |
In the balance, the film seems like it will be a formulaic hybrid date movie. And, maybe it was. But, that didn’t stop me from liking it quite a bit. First, it was really fun to see Lindsay Lohan with really bad luck. Second, it was fun seeing Chris Pine’s character (Jake Hardin) go from plucky bad fortune cookie to debonair with a dash of vulnerability record producer—all the while knowing how unlucky he used to be and that it could run out at any moment.
"...overall, the film was a lot of fun..."
Third, while certainly there are derivative elements, this was a new spin on some aspects of the old tale. They do not switch bodies! All that switches is their luck—if you believe in luck in the first place. Clearly, these two characters do, and poor Jake is the unluckiest soul alive—there’s never been a crack in the sidewalk he didn’t trip over, a salt shaker he hasn’t knocked over, or a puddle that he hasn’t been splashed by when a city bus rushed past him. Meanwhile, Ms. Lohan’s Ashley Albright has never had to wait for a cab, get stopped at a stop light, found a penny upside down, or lost a lottery scratch ticket as her wacky but sweet best friends Maggie (Samaire Armstrong) and Dana (Bree Turner) prove to her. So, when the switch happens, the quick contrasts in the changes in their lives are pretty funny and enjoyable. There are other nice surprises though like a cameo role for Carlos Ponce who plays Ashley’s next door neighbor (part of her good luck), a humorous portrayal of an NYC record producer by Faizon Love; and, of course, for those that are fans of the band, McFly (Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter, Tom Fletcher, and Harry Judd)—well, they’re all here playing themselves and performing their own music woven into the story as a pre-fame plot line with the ‘unlucky’ Jake as their bowling alley employee by day / manager by night. I thought this part, which for me was the only real surprise in the film, was great. Even if you are not a McFly fan or hate UK import boy bands, just pretend what it would be like to see any of your favorite bands in this situation. And, I thought it was a very clever way to expose the band to the USA Market rather than inventing a new and probably not very good band, just for the movie.
"You can safely take a date to this movie and not come out hating each other..."
I thought, overall, the film was a lot of fun. It wasn’t amazing nor was it as terrible as some people have reported it to be. It will fill a niche right now for light comedies that one can see after an adrenaline rush like M:I:III, a serious mystery thriller like the Da Vinci Code (which comes out next week world wide on the same day in case you haven’t heard because have been living under a rock), and or what we hope will be the greatest action movie of the summer, X-Men III (which comes out in two weeks!). You can safely take a date to this movie and not come out hating each other--unless one of you loathes Lindsay Lohan and the other loves her, then all bets are off.
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Just My Luck [DVD](2006) DVD
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