Lucky You

Lucky You is an odd, uneven film. It's ostensibly another romance, set before and during the 2003 World Series of Poker, but as it lays its cards on the table it becomes clear that it isn't playing with a full deck.

Originally due for release in 2006 the film was pushed back and now finds itself in the lull between this summer's spates of sequels. It's something of a shame, because despite feeling like it was made for television, Lucky You would appear to be the perfect date movie.

It's got Drew Barrymore, though not very much of her, as a romantic interest and more importantly a poker ingenue. Eric Bana is capable as Huck Cheever, a 'blaster'. The film is exposition heavy, rarely taking the time to allow the audience to figure out what is going when it can have someone tell us. In this it seems to have drawn heavily from televised poker. The 2003 World Series introduced small cameras that allowed audiences to see what cards players were holding and was also the first tournament with players who had previously only competed online.

Eric Bana isn't stretched playing a reserved but capable loner. Drew Barrymore has made a career as a wide-eyed innocent who sees the best in folk. Robert Duvall sits well as LC Cheever, Huck's estranged father, a two-time World Series Winner and a poker celebrity. He and Bana work well together, and share more screen time than Barrymore gets. Debra Messing and Jean Smart are among the cast, and there's a scattering of actual celebrity poker players, including the real winner of the 2003 tournament. Robert Downey Jr appears in a well crafted cameo as 'Telephone Jack', the only scene that really shows some measure of verve. The rest of Lucky You is very much by the numbers.

As a film Lucky You attempts four things, and fails at each of them. There's a romance in there, and a father-son thing, and a poker film, and an odd sort of recent nostalgia too. Lucky You seems to have been targeted at couples of college age. She can focus on Drew Barrymore drawing Eric Bana out of his shell, and he can watch the poker. There are silly bets to amuse them both, and then there's the chance to talk about what both were doing all the way back in 2003.

Lucky You is yet another film with a scene after the credits, a trend brought about by television's habit of cutting or cropping them when films are screened. That scene is less funny than the fact that nobody seems willing to take credit for Eric Bana's awful haircut.

Poker here is a game of skill, about reading competitors rather than the cards. Lucky You seems to have taken that to heart, but spends so much time aiming for an audience that it doesn't realise it's got a "bad beat"; though the cards look strong, it's a losing hand.