Oh, Just Buy It

Two and a half stars

The characters in this film are as pure as white snow, with the exception of the evil ex-husband, and you cannot help but like these people. You know, I really wanted to hate these people and this movie, but the ex-marine who does the right thing, the struggling single mom, the sassy grandmother and the adorable kid make it really hard. So, you have a choice. You can either roll your eyes or just buy it. 

“The Lucky One” is based on the novel by mega bestselling author Nicholas Sparks, and you have to give him some credit. His characters are lovable, and hard to hate, but that’s why people read his books I suppose. No one in real life is as good or attractive as these people.

The movie opens on a guy named Logan (Zac Efron), who is a marine in Iraq. He finds a picture of a woman near his station. He puts it in his pocket and the picture becomes his good luck charm. He survives his tour of duty, even when others around him aren’t so lucky. He returns home, and has some trauma from the war. However, he decides that it’s important for him to find the women in the photo and thank her. So, he finds out where she lives and walks (yes, walks) from Colorado to Louisiana. He meets her, a good looking single mom named Beth (Taylor Schilling), her sassy grandmother Ellie (Blythe Danner) and her adorable son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart). He just wants to thank her (really?), but she won’t listen. She finds him a bit odd. Wouldn’t you? The sassy grandmother however hires him to work at her dog kennel. Being a good guy, he soon bonds with her son.

Beth doesn’t warm up to him right away, but of course, they soon fall in love. However, there’s her evil ex-husband Keith (Jay Ferguson) who threatens to take away her child, and has a lot of power in the small town they live in. He even controls the police, who stalk poor Beth but luckily she has Logan to support her.  

All the characters are charming, and once the evil Keith is out of their way, they can be a really good family. I don’t claim to say this is a great movie, and it’s ultimately forgettable, but kicking it is like kicking a puppy. So, enjoy the montages of good looking people doing adorable things like all three of them washing the dogs together. I say if you have a date and you want a movie to bring her to, this isn’t a bad choice.  On the other hand, there’s no way you are going to measure up to the guy in this movie, unless you really are that good of a guy.