Lucky You
Cast: Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, Debra Messing
Direction: Curtis Hanson
Rating: * *
Eric Bana isn’t getting lucky this time. The Aussie hunk, who shot to Hollywood stardom with the comicbook caper Hulk, and had a smooth ride with the multistarrers Troy and Munich, has obviously upped his stakes too high with Lucky You, his first real solo outing.
Bana is Huck Cheever, promising poker player who dreams of winning the World Poker Series. It’s not easy — Huck has too many personal problems. He shares an estranged relationship with his dad (Robert Duvall), a two-time world champ. Worse, Huck has lost his girlfriend Billie’s (Drew Barrymore) money in poker, and she’s peeved.
Lucky You tries to set up the emotion tangle against the poker prop. Two snags: first, too much of the game and its technicalities weigh down the script. Unless you’re a poker fanatic, it’d put you off. And second, the Bana-Barrymore chemistry is all thanda.
A better deal was expected from Curtis Hanson, the man who gave us L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.
