Release Date: August 28, 2012
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 101 minutes
Based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller The Lucky One, Zac Efron (“17 Again,” “Charlie St. Cloud”) stars alongside Taylor Schilling (TV’s “Mercy”) and Blythe Danner (“Meet the Parents” franchise) in this romantic drama directed by Academy Award-nominated writer/director Scott Hicks (“Shine,” “No Reservations”).
S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Efron) returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive—a photograph he found of a woman he doesn’t even know. Learning her name is Beth (Schilling) and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job at her family-run local kennel. Despite her initial mistrust and the complications in her life, a romance develops between them, giving Logan hope that Beth could be much more than his good luck charm.
Having never read The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks but having read some of his other work, I was well aware of what I was getting myself into when putting this film into my blu-ray player. After watching the film, it is safe to say that this is not the Sparks adaptation that I would run to first when picking out my favorite.
I can’t tell you what moment is was that the film slowed down and I began to lose interest but the time did come and I found myself itching to get my hands on the book rather than continue watching. The pacing in the second half of the film seemed drastically different than in the first half which was odd considering the emotions were running higher and hell was rising. Had the pacing not been an issue and the storm scene at the end been directed differently, and the ending not been so abrupt, this film would have had a better impact on me. The majority of the time, for Sparks adaptations, the films usually hold up. So I was disappointed that this one was not able to hold my attention and keep me intrigued for the entire ride. I was disappointed that the ending was so predictable (which would not have been an issue if the directing of that scene wasn’t so bad) and bland. If there’s any Sparks film that’s a sleeper, I hate to say that it ends up being this one.
That said, I can’t knock the cast who was brilliant. I loved Taylor Schilling from her Mercy days so I was happy to see her leading a major motion picture alongside Zac Efron. These two immersed themselves in their characters and really sold it. They worked with what they had and gave their all. The problem is, I don’t know who outside of the Sparks fandom this movie is for because there doesn’t seem to be much of a message here. So there’s that. But if you want to support Sparks, Schilling, or Efron, be my guest! It might not be the most exciting afternoon spent but you’ll get to see Schilling and Efron do what they do best. Easy to please? Get this on blu-ray or DVD.
Special Features:
Zac Efron Becomes A Marine (7 minutes) – In this feature, Zac Efron admits that playing a marine did not seem like his type of character. From there, I was able to appreciate the rest of this feature. Going into this film, I did not think that Zac as a marine was believable but after having seen the film and watching this feature, it is clear that Zac was fully prepared to succeed at this challenge and was genuinely interested in what it took to pull it off. Zac Efron did not take this role lightly and it shows. He was phenomenal as a marine and the work in this feature shows a bit of that off screen work put into getting it right. What a great feature.
Watch The Sparks Fly: The Romantic World Of The Lucky One (7 minutes) – The cast and crew discuss what makes this book so intriguing and the importance of adapting it into a film. While in the interviewing chairs, Efron takes a hand at interviewing Nicholas Sparks which was fun to see. But the of the three features included, this is not a must see.
Zac And Taylor’s Amazing Chemistry (4 minutes) – Before getting to the chemistry aspect of this feature, the cast and crew discussed what it meant to have Zac and Taylor working on the film. Getting to the chemistry aspect of the feature, a portion of the screen test was shown and both Zac and Taylor talked about the privilege of working with each other. But when it comes down to it, this feature doesn’t really have much depth and go into as much detail as I would have liked, analyzing the characters and what that means for the actors and such. Ah well. If there’s one feature to watch, let it be the first not the second or the latter.
Own The Lucky One on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, or Digital Download today.