Just My Luck (2006)

Ashley Albright (Lindsay Lohan) has lived a charmed life. When she goes outside in the rain, the sun comes out. She just misses a crowded elevator and winds up alone with a very cute guy. And when she must substitute for her boss at a meeting, she gets a promotion out of the deal.

Jake Hardin (Chris Pine), on the other hand, could use a few good luck charms. He works at the Rock 'n Bowl, a bowling alley with live musical entertainment. He's found a great new group in McFly (playing themselves), but can't get their CD to an executive no matter what he tries.

Ashley has put together a masquerade ball as a promotion for record label Masquerade. Jake tries to crash the party to get McFly's CD to the label's executive just one more time. The two meet, and its love at first site. When they kiss, however, everything changes.

It starts with Ashley breaking the heel of her shoe. Things go downhill from there, and she's soon unemployed and living with her two friends. Jake, meanwhile, gets McFly signed to a record deal and finds himself living in a great, spacious apartment with a limo at his service.

Ashley hates her new life, and tries everything she can think of to get her luck back. Her path keeps crossing Jake's and the two begin to fall in love. What will happen when Ashley learns the truth?

Yeah, I'll admit it. I'm a Lindsay Lohan fan. That coupled with some very funny previews made me want to see this movie. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to its potential.

Obviously with a movie like this, the story is fairly predictable. It falls on the humor and the actors to make the journey to the end well worth watching. The actors do a great job with their material. You can't help but root for Ashley and Jake to find some way to deal with whatever it is they are currently facing. And, of course, you're rooting for them to get together.

Unfortunately, the humor fell flat. While I don't mind slapstick, I don't enjoy humor where the person is in pain or is constantly making a fool out of themselves. The humor in this movie fell almost entirely into those categories. Instead of laughing, I spend most of the movie cringing, waiting for the joke to come.

The ending works well, however. It was very sweet and redeems much of the earlier parts of the film.

The musical group featured in the film, McFly, is a real band. They've just released a CD entitled (surprise, surprise) Just My Luck. I was impressed enough with them to consider buying it but haven't yet.

The movie's ok, and the friend I went to see it with loved it. I just couldn't stop cringing enough to fully enjoy it. Three and a half stars rounded down.

As Lindsay Lohan transitions from Disney children movies (which I adored her in The Parent Trap), this movie is best called a good first attempt. It drags a bit and is quite predictable in its story line. Those are the only reasons that I did not give it 5 stars.

I hope that this is an indication of what Lindsay will be pursuing in her career. The humor is not crude or tasteless. The supporting cast is fairly good in this. I wish the fortune teller would have been more incorporated in the story. She was interesting and funny.

I am not sure why this movie got the PG-13 that it did. I have see plenty of PG-13 movies that should have been R or worse.

A good enjoyable movie worth renting and possibly adding to your collection.

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Ashley (Lindsay Lohan) stars as a yuppie who takes life (and her luck) for granted. After meeting loveable loser Jake (Chris Pine), he siphons away her luck with a kiss turning her luck sour. Can Ashley restore her luck to its former greatness or is she destined to be a loser?

This was an enjoyable lightweight comedy with unchallenging dialog, pretty people and a few really funny scenes. I enjoyed it, but I got a bit bored during the part where Ashley's luck runs bad. I don't really like watching someone constantly humiliated and embarrassed, even fictionally, and I'm not a huge fan of slapstick so the scenes with the washer and dryer and the blow dryer were 'meh' moments for me. Overall, it was a cute film but nothing ground breaking. 3 stars.

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Oh Lohan, didn't you learn anything from "Freaky Friday"? You should never coy with fortune telling, because the plot device will just conveniently turn your life around and hope you'll learn something from the nightmare. First, you were a 50-year-old Laurie Strode, here you became unlucky, and now you went from a career rise to a career splat.

"Just My Luck" may not be as bad as her recent box-office disaster, but this is still ridiculously uncanny. The movie thought God likes to tempt fate with certain people, and so Lindsay Lohan's character is livin' the Mary Tyler Moore life while Chris 'James T. Kirk' Pine happens to receive crap on a sliver platter every step of the way. Then convenience circumstances at a party happened when these two unknowns kiss after a warning form the fortuneteller, and their luck has switched. Then Lohan's character faced the 'wackiest' of unfortunate situations, like gettin' splashed on by the road, getting her hair caught in a dryer, having her home flooded, and reduced to working in janitorial work, while Pine gets a high-paid job by a record producer and has a secretary/call-girl the within a day.

There's a difference between luck and stupidity, and the movie doesn't quite get it. The character who had bad luck seems more irresponsible than unlucky, considering most of their actions caused them to be unfortunate. Pine picked up a dollar bill from a trash can, not thinking it could be dirty, and Lohan tried to replace a tube lightbulb while holding another one while standing on a ladder, these characters simply didn't think things through and I'm suppose to believe this is bad luck; come to think of it, I'm surprised bad luck itself didn't kill them earlier on. Nevermind the whole good luck aspect which is handled absurdly and coincidentally, one has to be brain-damage to think they weren't graced with internal fortune.

Everything here is set up like a Disney Channel Original Movie. All the jokes were cartoony, the cast overexert themselves with endless chatter, and the story is farfetched. I can understand it wants to be over-the-top, but it's not really funny. The characters are so annoying, Lohan kept verbally defending herself every time she gets into a jam and Pine plays like a one-dimensional meat package. "Just My Luck" is romantic shlock, all bubbly and asinine catering to the young girls for sleepovers. To think the best moments were the ones where Lohan's character is in prison and she got her face clocked (twice). At least the movie didn't make that whole 'you make your own luck' speech, which after how divinely controlled it's set up, the message would be hard to believe.

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In fact, the only thing original in this movie is that the lead actress (Lohan) starts off with luck, then gets bad luck after kissing some stranger (Pine) at a mascarade party and then kissing him later on (shedding bad luck) to kiss again and get it.

Weird, I know. But more or less, that's the premise of this been-there-done-that-but-still-cute tale...

Lindsay does decent acting once again, but it's not her best. Mean Girls and especially Freaky Friday were her highlights.

Lindsay and Pine have great, great chemistry but Katie "gets in the way" at first. Later, things are realized and "fine" again.

Like I said a many movie clichés roll, punch after punch, but the heart of the movie is still realized.

Do the lead actor and actress end up together? YOU figure that one out!

Positives:

You more or less stay glued, regardless of some of the bad and overused clichés popping up.

Great chemistry between the two leads.

Acting is decent.

Music is OK, but a bit too predictable.

Band's music is OK too but one song when they rehearse REALLY sticks out well.

What Lindsay's character thinks of Katie at first is HILARIOUS! :)

The real Katie rocks. \m/

Nice length.

Negatives:

Cliché, cliché, cliché!

Very predictable sometimes.

There's nothing new here.

Ending was as predictable as the movie.

3.7 stars.

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Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead

If your job interview has the question, "Do you suffer from any blood vessel abnormalities, iron deficiencies, vitamin B-12 deficiencies and/or intravenous drug usage?" assume your boss is a vampire.

But in vampire movies, nobody ever figures out the bleeding obvious. And that's only the beginning for "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead," a clever little indie movie that combines vampire horror, Arthurian legend, romance, and Shakespeare's classic play "Hamlet." It's sly and clever, but things start coming unravelled at the end.

Julian Marsh (Jake Hoffman) is unemployed, unhappily single and deeply depressed, so his dad forces him to take a directing job. The play: "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead," by Theo Horace (John Ventimiglia). Julian gets his buddy Vince (Kris Lemche) a job as Hamlet; his ex-girlfriend Anna (Devon Aoki), who is now involved with a sleazy mafioso, is also cast as Ophelia.

It's glaringly obvious that Theo and his cronies are all vampires, and Vince suspects that something is undead in the state of Denmark. Julian (still hopelessly clueless) is contacted by a secret organization (which apparently has only one schizophrenic member) who reveal the horrifying truth of Theo's diabolical plans! Can he extricate himself and Anna from the play before they join the legions of the undead?

Vampire legend, the Holy Grail, Shakespeare's play, and the disturbing underbelly of New York theatrical life. "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead" is a fun little black comedy -director/writer Jordan Galland was obviously having a lot of fun smushing these things together into one story.

The entire movie is filled with quirky, sly humor (Vince repelling vampires with garlic breath), fun running gags (professional hypochondriac Hugo Pepper), and the second half manages to insert a murder subplot where poor Julian is trying to escape the cops. And Galland manages to craft some fun, semi-realistic dialogue ("I don't think that's how a vampire would really [bite someone]," Julian lectures Theo).

Probems? Julian is kind of stupid, since he doesn't figure out that Theo and Co. are vampires even though it's FRICKING OBVIOUS. Also the Holy Grail is central because it can cure vampirism, but then the subplot is just made pointless (and a chunk of the plot with it). Wha?

Even if the character is dumb and skanky, Hoffman is a pretty endearing actor -he has that dorky, puppy-eyed charm that makes you cheer for him and hope that everything turns out all right. Aoki is rather wooden but okay, and Lemche is fun as Hoffman's overconfident gay buddy. As for Ventimiglia, he chews the scenery as the most cliched, obvious vampire you can imagine -and obviously he's having a great time!

"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead" is a fun little movie despite subplots that come unraveled at the end. Quirky, weird and splattered with blood!

Shakespeare? Check.

Vampires? Check.

Holy Grail? Check.

Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies? Check.

This film is silly and enjoyable. A little slow to start, but once the principal characters are introduced, it gets rolling and is quite enjoyable (much more so than more lavish and polished productions featuring any one of those single elements mentioned above.

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Starter for 10

From a very young age, Brian Jackson has crammed his mind with facts and knowledge, and now he's off to university for more. But the most important lesson he has to learn is that knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing.

Brian quickly makes a strong impression in academia, especially when he gets onto the school team for University Challenge, the wildly popular quiz show he grew up watching with his father. But the rest of life isn't so easy: Brian falls head-over-heels for his beautiful but self-centered teammate Alice, who leads him on despite having no real interest in intimacy; his mother, now ten years widowed, has found a new lover; he just can't sort out his feelings for Rebecca, a student activist with more than a passing interest in him; his blue-collar mates from home are starting to regard him as a class traitor; and any time he tries to be clever or impulsive, it always goes awry.

James McAvoy, who has already won great critical acclaim for his skills in dramatic roles, shows that he is equally adept in comedy, giving Brian an aw-shucks charm that keeps him loveable despite his penchant for saying exactly the wrong thing. Among the rest of the cast, the two greatest standouts are Benedict Cumberbatch, who steals his every scene as the hilariously snobbish team captain, and the extraordinarily talented Rebecca Hall, who plays Rebecca with such spirit and beauty that you can't help rooting for Brian to come around and realize that she's the one for him. Veteran thespians Charles Dance and Lindsay Duncan have a brilliant cameo as Alice's parents, and Mark Gatiss makes a convicing Bamber Gascoigne (the long-time host of University Challenge, and a real-life icon of British TV).

The script is witty, and gives new twists to the traditional conventions of romantic comedy. The climax on the set of University Challenge, and an earlier scene involving a misguided reference to The Graduate, are particularly well done. I can't help feeling, though, that the movie missed a few good opportunities as well. I understand the need to streamline the story, but I can't help feeling that they streamlined too much: fun characters disappear not long after they're introduced, certain aspects of Brian's schoolyear are mentioned when they should have been shown, and so on.

All the same, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and highly recommend it for any fans of romantic comedy, British film, or movies with cool '80s soundtracks.

I found this movie quite charming -much to do with the fact that James McAvoy is the central figure in it...I truly think we'll find him in a lot of good films in the future, which is GREAT!-.

The movie's the story of a boy who struggles to find himself while growing up -falling in love and making mistakes on a university TV quiz show are trascendantal-

You can get easily related to it...even more if you have had interest in accumulating a lot of useless -yet fascinatingdata in your brain to feel more intellectual or to guarantee yourself a "special" place in this world. Simple,sweet, funny and as I said before...charming!

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This is a slight film, but one well worth seeing for the fine performance by James McAvoy. A plain-looking nerd who goes off to college seeking to distinguish himself both as academically knowledgeable and, at the same time, as a ladies' man, he must strike a chord in the hearts of thousands of first year undergrads just like him. What McAvoy has going for him especially is his ability to ooze charm from every pore without being in the slightest degree sickeningly sweet. It is his memorable performance which distinguishes an otherwise pretty formulaic college comedy of heartbreak and eventual triumph.

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James McAvoy has that affable quality which makes the viewer like him even when he is being a bit of a prat. That is true throughout this DVD. The storyline is a little "low key," as the adaptation of the book to the screen was not as effective as it could be, but the performances are strong, and the viewer will not feel "cheated" when he finishes watching the film.

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Those of you who read the book may be a bit disappointed by its screen adaptation, an all to common occurrence when a book becomes a film.

Placing that comment aside and reviewing this film without use of a pretense, Starter for 10 is a cute, all be it a bit campy, British comedy about the bumps and hiccups brought by coming of age, finding ones future, and facing ones past. James McAvoy does a brilliant job of making his character lovably awkward. The subtle comedy, satirical character types and romantic interfaces make this a must see for any University Challenge fan (or anyone looking for a good laugh).

1 star off only because the book was better.

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Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)

Stay as Far as you can from this atrocity and watch something good like the Benchwarmers (I know that was horrible to but you at least laughed).

What was clearly the 1st sign of what direction "Bucky" was heading into is when we saw an inbreed farmer (probably left over from Deliverance) smacked peanut butter all over his Junk so his goat could "snack" on it, this was still in the middle of the intro credits before we even get to Bucky himself. Once the Peanut Butter and Goat credits finally ended we see Bucky at his job as a grocery sacker at "Fooders" where his boss played by Curtis Armstrong (AKA Booger) fires poor Bucky (Not clear why but it does not really matter anyways). I'll skip over the dinner seen with Bucky's Parents and get to where Bucky goes to his friends house to watch a new movie. The movie that Bucky watches (And at the same time gets off to) is a 1970's porno of his parents. At this point Bucky realizes his destiny and decides to go to Hollywood to be a porn star. The rest of this you will have to rent from Red Box and experience the holocaust yourself, I can't bring myself to type anymore. I'm having violent flashbacks as it is with the little I managed to hammer out. Please GOD, Strike down these unholy images from my brain! Take me to my special place where I may forget.

My first thoughts was to trash both my TV and Blu-Ray player so I could sanctify my entertainment system but came to my senses in time before I had found my sons metal bat in the garage. Upon returning "Bucky" back to the Red Box Kiosk I hesitated briefly because I was afraid the machine would abruptly catch fire after inserting Bucky back into it, luckily it went without incident.

I never truly recognized how bad the economy had gotten until watching Bucky, seeing good actors like Don Johnson, Christina Ricci, Stephen Doriff, Jimmy Fallen, Curtis Armstrong and Pauly Shore (Yes I said Pauly Shore, Bio-Dome was a park walk with what Nick Swardson did) give up what integrity they may have had to actually use their real names with this movie.

The really sad thing my son who is an Adam Sandler fan (as myself) is hoping that Adam just put his name on the script and can have plausible deniability that he had any "creative input" concerning this abomination. Before anybody says anything we are not defending the stuff that Adam has put out over the years but you can usually get a laugh even if it was unintentional. This cannot be said for this unholy horror. I'm just hoping after this Adam Sandler revives Rob Schneider's mediocre career, it will be a welcome site after seeing Nick's first starring role.

So in Conclusion both I and my Son who are both card carrying Golden Razzberry Members have found what will be our sure fire pick for the 32nd Razzies this year.

i saw this movie in the the theater, it was so bad i got up and left the theater with my friends, it was so stupid and ridiculous. the next time i was wasted..not completely..but enough to really love this movie cause its the "little" things that made me laugh, i.e. things in the background, peoples faces, that sort of stuff. This movie has no redeeming quality and should only be watched by those not in a sober state

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This is one for the collection.....just because it is so damn funny. I love me some Bucky! I don't purchase movies often, but this one had me in stitches....

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Funny movie! Silly humor but Nick Swardson pulls it off. I'm not quite sure how many actors could pull it off as well as he does and keep it equally as tolerable.

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This was MUCH funnier than it sounds. I laughed so hard during the entire thing, that I had tears in my eyes.

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