Lucky You Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
Change your game. Change your life.
Take a chance.
A hotshot poker player tries to win a tournament in Vegas, but is fighting a losing battle with his personal problems.
| Eric Bana | Huck Cheever |
| Horatio Sanz | Ready Eddie |
| Drew Barrymore | Billie Offer |
| Joey Kern | BillieÂ’s Admirer |
| Debra Messing | Suzanne Offer |
| Jean Smart | Michelle Carson |
| Charles Martin Smith | Roy Durucher |
| Robert Duvall | L. C. Cheever |
| Robert Downey Jr. | Telephone Jack |
| Yetta Gottesman | Larita |
| Saverio Guerra | Lester |
| Danny Hoch | Bobby Basketball |
| Kenny Cau | Chinese Restaurant Waiter |
| Lindsay MacFarland | Carrie |
| Bill May | Frank Belando |
| Curtis Hanson |
5.80 out of 10 (460 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Not what you think
posted on 10 Jul 2009I really enjoyed this movie. Once I was aware that this film wasn't a 'chick flick' I went to see it with an open mind and found it quite fascinating. I'm not much of a card player, never mind do I know very much about gambling or poker, but, I really think if you think of the gambing or card playing as another character, the dark side of Bana's character, if you will, you could enjoy this movie for what it was meant. Simply, as a struggle for a man with his inner demons. I do agree with some of the other reviewers, that too much emphasis was placed on Huck's obsession with his father and gambling, some of this could very well have been edited out as redundance and would have made the movie move along faster and much less frustrating, which would have, I'm certain, made the reviews much improved. However, this being said, I did enjoy the movie and the acting was fabulous. If we try to learn something new every day, I learned about gambling and casino's, if nothing else. I'm so far away from anything of this sort that I couldn't even begin to imagine a life such as this. A new thing learned and a movie enjoyed, all because I watched it with an open mind. Others should do as well.
Unlucky You more like Refund Me.
posted on 22 Jun 2009There are a few reasons why I wanted to see "Lucky You." I thought the casting was pretty good with Eric Bana, Debra Messing, Robert Duvalle and especially Drew Barrymore. I didn't wanted to see the movie in theaters, so I decided to rent the film on DVD. I thought it may look like a fun movie since it's about a game of poker...
...but I was wrong. "Lucky You" was extremely boring. It was so boring that I didn't want to watch the last 20 minutes of the film.
This film is a remake off of the previous James Bond film, "Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig. Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) is a professional poker game. He becomes friends with a lovely lady, Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore). Huck wants to compete in a game of poker.
That's all the story is. It's really not that exciting. But if you are a big fan of poker, you might enjoy this film. If you like action films, I command you to skip this.
Mediocre Poker Movie
posted on 03 Jun 2009I didn't like very much "Lucky You", I thought that I would be watching a good poker movie because of the director (L.A confidential & 8 mile)and the cast, Eric Bana (Troy), the great Robert Duvall and the hot Drew Barrymore. But I was wrong this is a mediocre film and I like to play poker, watch poker games on TV and watch poker movies.I think this movie deserves 5.5 stars. I didn't like the performances, the poker games were OK, but this is a movie where the most important thing is the plot, any director can put actors around a table a make them look cool, talking and making bets but the difficult is in the plot around the poker tables.The movie is about a poker player who has to earn $10000 to get in a poker tournament but in his way to get the money he will meet with a beautiful naive woman and with his father, a great poker player, to whom he dislikes."Lucky You" would have been better if it had lasted 100 minutes instead of 124 minutes. Just watch it if you don't have anything else better to do.
Lucky you ... if you didn't see this
posted on 01 Jun 2009Right off the bat, I gave this film two stars instead of one because the makers did the almost-impossible: They made a film about a sports/gaming event where you don't care about who wins the BIG game. That must have taken some skill. And I give them credit for doing it on purpose. They must have, right? I'd bet on it.Like others who have commented, I'm a big poker fan and player, and the idea of a chick flick about poker seemed too good to be true. I could get points with my wife, and still enjoy a movie! Sadly, the relationship side of of this film was as predictable as a fish overplaying a gut-shot (a new player betting too much on an inside straight draw), while the card play is as disappointing as watching everyone fold to your pocket bullets pre-flop (having a great hand -- two aces -- but no one to play against).Let's walk through the plot and see if you can spot the surprise: Pro player revving up for the big game (the World Series of Poker) meets out-of-town cutie hoping to kick-start her singing career in Vegas. Player doesn't have the entry fee. (Substitute player and poker with driver and racing, and you've got "Viva Las Vegas!") Player and father (a big-name pro player) are kind of estranged, kind of not. Player gets and loses entry fee repeatedly, while singer gives up on it all and goes back to the sticks. Player gets the entry fee (again) just in time to play the big game. Rapid fire cameos of poker greats generally not playing cards. Player shows humility and gets the girl. All this with poker slang crowbarred into the script so it all feels authentic.The surprise? That the real poker stars agreed to do this film at all. I guess they were all building a stake for the next big game.
If you like poker this movie is a joke
posted on 30 May 2009"If I like poker this movie is for me"? You have to be kidding this was by FAR the worst poker movie ever made. The story was weak. The poker content was awful. The actors were atrocious.I have to wonder if Bana and Duvall ever picked up a deck of cards or touched a poker chip in their lives.Both Damon and NOrton as well as the guy from the sopranos actually had me convinced they were experienced pros.These guys were a joke.Just about the only thing decent about this movie is how well Barrymore's looked. She's never looked better.
A discovery of love underneath the deck of cards, and a shuffled up sibling rivalry.
posted on 28 May 2009Curtis Hanson pretty much keeps it simple in this film as "Lucky You" sticks right to it's points showing flawed characters at work with no twist occurring. Eric Bana is master poker player by the name of Huck who tours Las Vegas as a con king also, but his main love of life is poker. Things change when he meets aspiring lounge singer Billie Offer(Drew Barrymore) as now love is in the deck! I must say it was nice to finally see Drew in a supporting role of some dramatic element, when Huck feels good, but conflicted from his new love his father L.C. Cheever(Robert Duvall) shows up and indeed a sibling rivalry is evident. This film really doesn't take any surprise plot twist it's clear it's about high stakes poker and a new love discovery while an old one is renewed. Really "Lucky You" is an all right film, just nothing spectacular.
Why poker and movies just don't mix
posted on 15 May 2009**1/2
Only the most die-hard poker fans will find much to cheer about in "Lucky You," a Freudian drama set in the high-stakes world of the Vegas strip.
Eric Bana ("Munich") and Robert Duvall star as Huck and L.C. Cheever, two world-class poker players with many unresolved father/son issues between them. Huck resents the fact that he's had to live virtually all his adult life in the shadow of his famous father who, with his constant carousing, stealing and gambling, made life a living hell for Huck's mother virtually till the day she died. What Huck doesn`t realize - and this is where Doctor Freud comes in - is that he is pretty much following in his father`s footsteps both in his choice of profession and his relations with women. Meanwhile, L.C. hangs out around the casinos and coffee shops of the city trying to reconcile with his boy, while at the same time, doling out unasked-for advice about how the young man should be living his life both at and away from the poker table. Drew Barrymore completes the cast as Billie Offer, a young, morally upright ingenue from Bakersfield who has come to Sin City to begin her career as a singer and who winds up falling under the spell of the ethically-challenged Huck. Or could it be that the beatific Billie is really an angel of the Lord come to lead the iniquitous Huck out of this modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah?
The scenes between Bana and Barrymore are probably the best in the film and one wishes that more time would have been spent developing that relationship instead of sitting around the poker table. For whenever the story moves into the casino, the movie stops dead in its tracks, proving once again that poker, by its very nature, makes for one of the least compelling sports ever to be depicted on film. Anyone without a thorough working knowledge of the ins and outs of Texas Hold'em, in particular, is going to find himself lost in all the arcane trivia of the poker-playing scenes (which take up quite a large chunk of the movie's overall running time, I might add). Even worse is the fact that the father/son angle is so cliched and hackneyed at this point that even actors of the caliber of Bana and Duvall (and they are both excellent) can't be expected to really pull it off.
There are some quality elements in "Lucky You." Director Curtis Hanson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, proves yet again - as he did in "LA Confidential" and "8 Mile" - that he knows how to extract the essence of a locale to build atmosphere and mood. Moreover, the interactions between Huck and Billie are often flavorful and intriguing (which is more than can be said for those between Huck and his dad). The performances are uniformly impressive, with Barrymore, in particular, showing a bit more range here than she has in most of her previous roles.
Hanson has populated his film with a number of real life poker playing celebrities, which may be of interest to the aficionados but won't mean much to the rest of us. Sad to say, but the lackluster "Lucky You" is unlikely to appeal to anyone not already passionate about professional poker - and unlikely to garner the sport itself many new fans.
greaaaaaat.
posted on 04 May 2009this movie is terrific. seriously. it might seem a little cliché at some points, but its really a good movie. its entertaining, and makes you laugh. better than that, it makes you smile at the end. the best kind of movies. i loved the ending, it definitely fit the movie. im often not satisfied with the endings in movies but i was with this one. i would recommend this movie to anyone. you don't need to know poker in order to understand this movie. the movie isn't really even about poker if you really look at it. plus, eric bana is not hard to look at for 2 hours.if you're looking for a movie that will make you laugh, smile, cry, and leave it feeling happy and good, this is the movie for you. definitely watch this movie. you even begin to hate robert duvall, for once.
Lady Luck in love and poker
posted on 19 Apr 2009Keeping a poker face in love is dommed for the opposite of a royal flush. Huck is the son of a two-time world series winner whose bitterness against his father prevents him from reaching his potential. Raging against his gambling addiction, emotional demons, and past baggage Huck scrambles and hustles his way into the world series. Along the way he meets Billie, a nightclub singer, who gets into his heart despite his serious emotional distance. The father-son fighting, high stakes poker, and a nightclub singer romantic interest in Las Vegas creates a interesting theme with legendary Robert Duvall as Huck's father ... but ludy luck doesn't shine on either father or son.
Perfect for gamblers
posted on 16 Apr 2009If 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.
Aces High but no Royal flush
posted on 08 Apr 2009I went into this movie not expecting much. I like Eric Bana, being Australian and seeing how far he has come from his early comedy days and the movie "The castle" (A must watch Australian film that was shot in one weekend apparently). Back to "Lucky You", I liked the presence between drew Drew Barrymore & Eric Bana. Playing cards bores me to tears, but this film made it seem almost enjoyable. It is filmed as more of a shoot-out than a battle & the camera angles angles are more from an observers point than the audience being part of the game. I liked how they made Las Vegas seem drab compared to the Oceans movies. You will only like this movie if you believe in the "lucky loser".
Pretty Good!
posted on 05 Apr 2009Drew Barrymore is a delight to watch, she reminds me a little of her character in Never Been Kissed, the part where she was kindah popular. She wears sexy dresses in this and sings! (I didn't know Drew sings)
And Eric Bana is so handsome! He's a bit of a sleezeball at first (lies and steals) but by the end, he's changed some. Eric Bana is also such a hunk! Someone should really put him in more projects we can watch, I mean I like he's acting work too--so subtle yet powerful.
Drew should do more romantic comedies!
Dinky Little Movie
posted on 02 Apr 2009I went to see the preview of Lucky You against my better judgement, and I should have followed my better judgement. This was a movie for the poker player or fan who wanted to follow all the cards and chips that were constantly flying around the betting tables. As so many are this is a weak story and I found my self getting ready to get out of my seat and leave the theater. Drew Barrymore was adequate in here part, and her boyfriend Erick Bana ( who I never saw in anything before was equally adequate. I was sorry to see the talents of Robert Duvall wasted in this little trite movie. My recommendation is to pass this one by at the movie theater and skip the DVD which should be out very very shortly. What we need is some script writers with some talent to give us some good films and not this tripe.
Bana & Barrymore run out of Luck
posted on 31 Mar 2009When you hear critics trash a film, you wonder "How bad could it really be?" In the case of Lucky You, the critics got it right. Hard to believe that the guy who brought us L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys, 8 Mile, and In Her Shoes (it's actually pretty good) could disappoint us. How bad is this film?: 1) Eric Bana. Yes, he's good-looking, but geez-louise, he's so bland in this, it's hard to feel any sympathy for his character. I've seen three of his films (TROY, MUNICH, and now this), and he's equally bland in all. Hollywood needs to stop casting ridiculously good-looking people with limited or no acting talent in films.2) Drew Barrymore. Yes, she's long redeemed herself. Now can she please stop playing the cutesy-kwirky character in EVERY film she's in? She's too old for this. Two words: Meg Ryan.3) The real poker pros seem more like props in the film instead of flesh-and-blood characters. Who thought we'd see Phil Hellmuth and Mike "The Mouth" Matasow quiet as church mice? It doesn't feel right.4) Debra Messing, Jean Smart, and especially Robert Downey Jr. are barely in this. Robert Duvall is the only actor that redeems himself.5) The film seems to have an identity crisis. One minute, it wants to be a romantic comedy. The next minute, it wants to be a family drama. The next minute, it wants to be another ROUNDERS-type poker film. Instead, it goes down like rancid Jamba Juice. Better than ACES (the movie), but still not a good hand.
Maybe not so lucky
posted on 24 Mar 2009Lucky You, in a nut shell, is about a obsessed gambler played by Eric Bana who falls for a wannabe singer played by Drew Barrymore. The story leads you down Bana's path to the World Series where he hopes to get his big break, along the way learning how to manage not only his money and gambling but his normal life as well. I won't go too into the movie's story but the basic plot is Bana learns his leason at the end and all loose ends are tied in a nice little package.
My main problem with this movie is the pacing and softness of the over all film. It's REALLY slow and never really reaches a pinnacle high point, it pretty much stays in a conservative state the entire film from start to finish. Even at the end when you don't feel like there's a climax happening, just another thing in Bana's life. Barrymore's performance was really weak as well. She was awkwardly cheesy and boreing in every scene she was in, and the ones where her and Bana are together you don't get that sense of synergy between the actors. Now I think Bana did a good job, he definitely played the part of the struggling poker player. As with all the other reviews I'm going to compare this to Rounder's, the quintessential poker movie. Granted that movie was more about the underground poker scene in the mid to late nineties, there was a strong story that you wanted to see how it ended. Watching Matt Damon's character as he loses his life's savings and trying to figure out who he is and what he's meant for is a real pleasure to watch with a very dramatic show off at the end. This is something Luck You misses because you don't really care about Bana's character or what happens to him. There isn't that urge to root for the good guy to win over all adversity because again, there's really nothing for him to battle besides himself. My final verdict, this is at most a weekend rental. Watching this once is enough and there isn't any real poker stratagy thrown in either unlike Rounder's where the famous phrase, "it's not the cards it's the player" originated.
I sure didn't feel lucky at the end of the movie for hiring it
posted on 21 Feb 2009You'd think a movie based upon poker featuring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore couldn't miss. You'd be wrong."Lucky You" stars Eric Bana as Huck Cheever (another dumb character name), a down and out poker player who always just goes too far with his bets. Huck lives in the shadow of his father, LC Cheever (Robert Duvall-showing up the rest of the cast), a champion poker player. One night while out at the casinos, Huck comes across Billie Offer (an even worse name, played by Drew Barrymore),who intrigues him. They soon go out on a date and Huck treats her to watching him play poker with her money. She has a great night and they spend the night together. It looks like these two will start a nice little journey together, until Huck steals some money from her. She finds out and is livid and decides to end their brief courtship. Huck keeps bouncing around the casinos, trying to get an entry into the World Championship. After several failures and discouragements, Huck ends up getting a backer and gets his dream.Will Huck win the Championship? Will he sort out the issues for his father? Will Billie decide she was a bit harsh on Huck and give him another chance?I won't answer these questions, for you, but I'll share the following....-Eric Bana was not convincing at all as a poker player. Not sure if it was a bad script or he was just mailing it in, but he was pretty average. -The poker stuff was pretty lousy, especially Huck's speech about how poker is so pure because when you get to a table you're all even. Um, no you're not. Some are better at it, some have massive gambling problems and some are major hustlers. -Drew was pretty poor too. She wasn't given much to work with...actually her character had no depth and shouldn't have even ended up in the movie. The relationship had about 20min screen time I think and wasn't key to the movie.Summary: you won't feel "lucky" that you spent $3.95 on this at the end of the movie
I'm going to have to say, great movie
posted on 17 Jul 2009A little boring in the beginning, but the movie picked up very fast. It was absolutely amazing by the middle the amount that one man will go through to try and live his thought to be dream is amazing. He goes through a lot of serious bumps in the road to try and find his life. It's a really great story of one man trying to sort out his life, and try and live up to what his dad wants him to be, while trying to win the heart of a girl. It's quite a sad story, yet a story that needs to be told, it's really not just about the turn of the cards like many other poker movies, including but not limited to "Deal." This is o so much more than just another poker movie, this is a movie about what one man will do, in life, to try find himself.