Lucky Bastard

I gave this higher marks than some, because I think the story cast a light on the prevalence of meth in LA, especially when it's used for sexual enhancement in the gay community. I once visited LA in 2011, and I met a recovering meth addict, age 50, by chance. It's important to show how these drugs destroy lives, as it did Denny's, one of the leads in this film. Yes...the actor playing Rusty was a bit stiff, but he played and looked the part well enough....wholesome and cute with a lean, hot body. Yes, it didn't seem believable that he would let a meth head drifter into his head or bed. But Denny was a confident charmer with a smoking hot body. And Rusty seemed to be very vanilla and conventional, with limited sexual experience. Denny brought out his inner pig....at least for awhile. In the end, we did see a believable conclusion....as Rusty's experiment didn't last long. Denny had the more demanding role and I think he did a good job. Happy ending.....but felt bad for all the people like Denny. Worth watching once.

That's the simple truth. The dialog is terrible, the story is redundant & boring, it feels contrived & forced, utterly unnatural. The acting is subpar, emotionless, stale. At the close, the 4th guy doesn't even look like he did at the beginning... nothing about this film (except for how cute Rusty is) makes this a film worth the time, honestly. I've seen worse, but not by much....

Lessons were learned but no education was seen. Just suddenly they understood what it was supposed to be & it was boring. I'd say skip it altogether except the cuteness of Rusty & the occasional nicely toned ass. Good luck.

Viewers and critics have a hate-on for this film that baffles me. "Lucky Bastard" is a solid, well-told story about a man who, professionally and personally, is simply stuck. Given the opportunity to escape the pressures to move forward to which his business partner and his boyfriend each subject him, Rusty leaps at it when it appears in the form of Denny, a deeply damaged hustler and meth addict. The appeal of trying to fix Denny parallels Rusty's enjoyment of restoring old houses, Denny's emotional damage being comparable to the damage that perfectionist Rusty deals with in his work.

The principal actors handle the material well, although Timothy Cole as Rusty's business partner is the weakest member of the cast. The film is far more introspective than writer/director Everett Lewis's previous work. Lewis drew upon his own experience being in a relationship with a meth addict and much of the dialog, notably Denny's monologue on how he became involved with drugs and sex work, came from life. The result is a film that feels intimate and real. My one complaint is that it feels like there is a scene missing between Denny's final angry outburst and Rusty's sending him packing. Rusty's emotional transition feels abrupt and unmotivated. That one flaw should not dissuade anyone from seeing the film.

This flick screened at Outfest in Los Angeles two nights ago to a completely sold out audience. Many standing in line were even turned away. They were the lucky ones.

The storyline, in a nutshell: When his boyfriend leaves town, architect and restorer Rusty quickly hooks up with a sexy drifter named Denny. Rusty's already unsettled life is set on its ear when he discovers that Denny is a crystal meth-addicted hustler.

Beginning about 20-30 minutes into the film, audience members started walking out in droves. I'm not sure of their reasons, but I would have left had I not been stuck in the middle of a crowded row of people involved with the film. I would have just felt bad disturbing their experience.

Why would I have left? I found both the storyline and the characters unbelievable and unlikeable. Rusty is described as a success, but I couldn't figure out why anyone would use that word to describe him. Unable to make a decision or take a stand, he lets himself get pushed around professionally and emotionally throughout the film. Had there been some kind of hook or insight in either the writing of the character or the actor's performance, I might have wanted to root for the guy, but he just kept going back for more and never earned my respect as an audience member.

The two lead actors are gorgeous, so that was what largely what made the film semi-bearable for me. And Dale Dymkowski, who plays the hustler Denny, did the best he could with what he was given, so he's pretty much what earned the two stars in my rating.

Technically the film is kind of creaky as well. The color was terrible in the print I saw, and the sound was extremely tinny.

Recommended for home viewing only, where you have the fast forward option and the ability to give up on it easily if you're so inclined.

My final take on the title is that a Lucky Bastard is one never to have met and become entangled with a crack addict. The manipulation of educated, successful Rusty, which comes by every single word out of Denny the drug addict's mouth, seems to be remembered verbatim. Rusty's susceptibility comes in part from his being a decent guy who does not expect others to lie. Al Green sang about a kind-hearted woman who revives a poor half-frozen snake. When the snake bites her in return, he brushes aside her betrayal by reminding her that she knew what he was when she warmed him to her bosom.

Life's too short to watch bad movies, and this is one I found myself compelled to watch completely. The actors are all capable and believable in the many layers they must weave. The production values won't make you cringe, and the script manages to show a lot in a brief time, without wasting any. The music is unusually good, which is why I'm on line to find out more about it (found it as Amazon mp3 downloads). You don't need to suspend disbelief to enjoy this film. Instead, let this film lead you out of whatever naiveté insists we'd never misstep in the path of an addicted conman without conscience. Here's where you can glimpse how fallible such a belief makes you.