Review: The Lucky One

#142 - The Lucky One


The Lucky One is a film in the never-ending list of movies created by Nicholas Sparks. It is about a Marine that discovers a guardian angel in the form of a photograph while he is at war. He sets out to find the woman in the photograph, and he finds much more than that: he finds a home.

In the past, I was always excited for the next Nicholas Sparks movie to come out, but recently I've been hesitant to jump to the theater to see one. They've really been hit or miss, and this one is closer to the 'miss' side of the spectrum. Don't get me wrong, Zac Efron is a dreamboat, but with this character, he's very bland and boring. He creeps around in this small town, where the only character who reacts logically to this newcomer is the crazy, abusive ex-husband, Keith. He questions where Logan (Efron's character) came from and why he has taken a particular interest in Beth and her son. The way Logan's character is written, it doesn't give Efron any room to actually act. He just walks around aimlessly and broods into the camera. It's sigh-worthy at first, but then it just becomes too repetitive and uninteresting. Plus, to have a beautiful man such as Zac Efron running around killing people in a war, it is not believable. They didn't even rough him up to fit in with the guys around him; they just kept him as the Greek god he is, but slapped him into a military uniform with a gun. All I could focus on were his bright blue eyes. It was not good.

As for the plot, you can pinpoint exactly when the story is going to take a turn for the worst, and then it happens, and you're like "I told ya so." Very ironic that Beth's grandmother says the very same line to her half way through the film.

Overall, it will make women everywhere swoon at the sight of Zac Efron and cry for days at the beautiful love story, but for me, it makes me roll my eyes. I wish Nicholas Sparks would get back to making movies like The Notebook and A Walk to Remember. Those are his gems. I have never met a person EVER who has said they didn't love those two films. Suggestion for you, Mr. Sparks:  A BEND IN THE ROAD. Make it into a movie...NOW. It will be a hit; I promise you that.


I give The Lucky One 2.5 out of 5 stars.