Lucky
Lucky has a
pretty fertile idea for a pitch-black comedy. A serial killer finds a
winning lottery ticket on the body of his latest conquest. Now a man who by
necessity has to keep a low profile is suddenly forced into the spotlight of
sudden fame.
He
has also had an unrequited crush on the same woman all his life – in fact
his frustration in that relationship had fueled his killing spree, all the
victims were dead ringers (literally) for his crush.
Then
it turns out that lifelong crush is a complete gold digger and will do
anything to get a hold of his millions – even marrying a man she does not
even faintly appear to love. But then what can she do when she stumbles
upon his extracurricular activities? After all, if he is sent away to
prison for mass murder, she will not be able to collect the money.
So
who is more sympathetic, the murderer or the whore?
Okay, truth is you aren’t going to really like either character, but that is
kind of the point. And, in their own odd ways, they each do have good
qualities despite the blackness where their souls should be.
It
is an interesting love-hate dynamic. In certain ways they can’t stand each
other and yet in others they know they are oddly soulmates.
Colin Hanks plays the guy, and his spindly awkwardness does make him a
fascinating character – an emotional counterpoint to his heinous acts.
Hanks takes advantage of his natural likability and plays the guy as someone
who is basically a genial nebbish somehow driven over the edge to extreme
violence by social awkwardness, a nowhere job, an overbearing mother and
unrequited love. In fact, Hanks could very easily be playing a bizarro
version one of his father Tom’s romantic comedy heroes as a schizophrenic
sociopath.
Ari
Graynor is less appealing as the high-strung “woman of his dreams.” Her
performance is so relentlessly over the top that you mostly can’t quite see
what he sees in her – though I have to admit she raises her game as an
actress significantly in later scenes when the bloom is off the rose and
bitterness starts showing through.
If this story was played in any way straight, it would
be tough to watch. However, the screenplay is so darkly funny and the film
has such a quirky world view that Lucky ends up being much more
entertaining than it probably has any right to be.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2011 PopEntertainment.com.
All rights reserved. Posted: July 15, 2011.
