Lucky You

Lest be duped by the trailers that make it seem a romantic comedy set in the world of high-stakes gambling, one should approach "Lucky You" as more of a movie about poker with a generous amount of father-son conflict thrown in for good measure. The romantic angle is just an arbitrarily (in fact, awkwardly) placed distraction that sticks out like a sore thumb (hint: Drew Barrymore's character is good for only around 20-30 minutes of this 2-hour movie).

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) is a regular high-stakes poker player in Las Vegas whose skills in reading body languages of his opponents is hampered by his rashness. Constantly in the shadow of his estranged father L.C. (Robert Duvall), a two-time World Series of Poker champion who never fails to rub in his son's weakness, Huck falls for Billie (Barrymore) - a Vegas newbie who's just got a job singing in a bar. Problem is, Billie's cynicism-free personality clashes with Huck's callous opportunistic character.

And it goes without saying that as cards are dealt and the stakes are raised, there will be some fixings to occur among Huck and the two people around him.

Strangely, after being in projects with involving narratives, director Curtis Hanson and co-writer Eric Roth fail to draw any meaningful yarn with the characters. In fact, "Lucky You" works better when it sets its focus on the poker table, and not trying to deal with any of tepid characterizations. But such ambivalence ultimately leads to a hollow feeling.

For those who enjoy watching poker, it might be a worthy deal (at least the final act). But for anyone else, considering the people involved in this project, it leaves the feeling of an empty hand.

(I just had to say that before anyone else!)

I don't know anything about poker, but I enjoyed this film all right.

The people in the audience who do understand the game were getting a lot more out of it than I did. They were oohing and ahhing and tensing up like they were at a real poker tournament.

I'm surprised Drew Barrymore took a supporting role like this. She's good and lovely as always (how come she still looks 20?), but doesn't get enough to do. Robert Downey Jr and Jean Smart are also woefully underused.

The film really belongs to Eric Bana and Robert Duvall. Eric is handsome and solid. And it's a real treat to watch an old pro like Duvall.

It's only a slight tale, but a pretty good one. I could tell from one of the first scenes how it was going to wind up. Hey, maybe I should take up poker.

If gambling and poker interests you, then you will love this film. Otherwise, it's too long and in some parts boring because there are so many long card playing scenes. Did the movie have to show so many hands of poker being played for us to follow the story? Eric Bana plays a gambler who wins some but loses a lot. His father, Robert Duval, is a world famous gambler. Duval is fabulous as usual in his role. Drew Barrymore plays the girl Bana pursues. He "borrows" money from her and gets in the dog house but alls well in the end. There are a few funny parts where his friend sets up silly wagers. Like staying in a bathroom and the whole run/golf bet. The climax is the world poker tournament and whether or not Bana can win it.

FINAL VERDICT: I like the actors in this, but I don't know anything about poker, so didn't follow that part with the checking and table tapping. A little too much of the technical stuff. The card playing should have been shorter. But I still recommend it if you like any of the actors.

The very sympathetic character of Huck Cheever displays some of the worst compulsive gambler behavior. It's appropriate to the movie and is certainly exhibited by many people who gamble a lot. In fact, it might be the most realistic part of the movie. Unfortunately, the only thing that keeps spouses sane is not knowing

I'm a very frequent poker player and sports bettor, and I enjoyed the movie. But the less intimately acquainted my wife is with the pitfalls of gambling the better she'll sleep. Besides, all the Drew Barrymore scenes really seemed flat to me so it may not even be a very good date movie.

Drew Barrymore is an actress whose talent has not yet been fully tapped. Eric Bana is good but, as usual, Ms. Barrymore is wonderful. She proves once again that she has developed into a wonderful actress. Robert Duvall is also good. What was not so good was the story itself. The father-son conflict is contrived and ultimately fails dramatically. Also, Eric Bana's character is an insipid loser and not particularly nice, so there is nothing about him to inspire empathy. He takes money, squanders it, disrespects his father, steals from his girlfriend, acts irresponsibly and does stupid things. But if you want to learn a few things about poker players, then this is the movie to watch. Actually, the real story is the poker game itself. Some of the players at the table seemed to be much more interesting than Mr. Bana's character and if the movie dealt (no pun intended) more with them, then maybe this movie would have been more entertaining. Nevertheless, having Drew Barrymore in this movie makes it still worth watching.