Lucky Us

I don't know anyone who liked Lucky You, the Curtis Hanson film starring Eric Bana, about the life of a guy in Vegas poker profressional. The studio knew they had a dog on their hands since they held up the film's release for a year. But it's not that bad. Certainly it's not a hopeless mess like All In.

In fact, I'd say the first half hour, where we're introduced to his milieu, is pretty good. The first hour is passable. It's just that the story (including his romance with Drew Barrymore and his relationship with his father, Robert Duvall) gets sillier and sillier. If they had kept the story simpler, and concentrated on his basic life, rather than going for the Hollywood big finish, it might even have worked.