Lucky Them (2014)

i must have seen a different film!!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I just saw this off Showtime the other day. Aussie actress, Toni Collette, with her breakout performance in "Muriel's Wedding" twenty years ago, and since then amazing work in "The Sixth Sense", the show "United States of Tara", and more recently re-uniting with her "Muriel" director PJ Hogan for the film, "Mental", has evolved into one of the world's great actresses, and one of my personal favs. In "Lucky Them" she plays a rock journalist assigned with tracking down her ex-boyfriend/former rock star who has since become a recluse (I won't say who it turns out to be *possible SPOILER* but you may have seen him in a few things ;) ). Her old pal played by Thomas Haden Church is along for the ride. And for me, what made this road movie was the relationship/chemistry between Church and Collette. Ever since TV's "Wings", Church has impressed me in so many performances over the years- "Sideways", the original AMC movie "Broken Trail", and right around the time "Wings" was on the air, the Fox series "Ned and Stacey", which we got to see him portray the romantic leading man. Here, his quirky/off- beat character works in contrast to Collette. Well, anyhoo, I would definitely give a recommend for this one.......

Even Toni Collette could not save this terrible film. Hell, the guy from wings even let me down (he killed it in sideways).This film plays like a really bad pilot for a show that ends up lasting over an hour. Of course as boring as it is, it felt like much longer. The characters are dull and the plot is nonexistent. This film serves as nothing more than a glorification of the hipster lifestyle that is all too prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.Characters like the protagonist really do exist up here, so I'll give the one compliment this hack deserves and admit this movie does portray certain aspects of what it's like to live in this region. The protagonist is the all to common Portland/Seattle hipster hag. She cannot accept she is an old woman, so she tries to turn back the clock (in vain) by acting like she's 21 all over again, only she's in her forties. If you think I'm kidding, come live in Portland for a while and see for yourself the deluded parade of old hags who wear pigtails, wear hello kitty backpacks and strut around with their twenty something year old boyfriends, who (obviously) are so desperate they are just happy to be in the presence of a chick who's not twice their body weight and has a pulse, but I digress.The point is, this movie sucks, has no plot and no characters you care about. This is just one of those stupid "look at how hip I am" movies.

The DVD was finally released so I had a chance to see the movie. I wanted to see it primarily because of the superb cast and I wasn't disappointed by a single one of them. But I do wonder how they got the 8 figure salary Johnny Depp to play a bit role. The story didn't move me partly because the characters weren't fleshed out. One sentence or two was all the viewer was given in the way of background. Tom Hayden's character for instance is wealthy but is he really the buffoon who would marry a hooker who is secretly married and blatantly seeking to make Hayden's character become more materialistic? Johnny Depp's character is described as a "shit." Why? We're never told. It's really a tribute to the cast that this movie exists and damn near works.

Now and again, with patience, a little gem comes across the video on demand that somehow didn't make it in the theaters. This film was made in 2013 and seems to be headed for a re- release. Don't wait. See it now on video on demand courtesy of Amazon. It is a treat. Caroline Sherman has the original idea for the story and it was adapted foe the screen by Huck Botko and Emily Wachtel. Megan Griffiths directs with élan. Ellie Klug (the very fine Toni Collette) is a music critic for a failing rock magazine, SLAX' in Seattle headed by the pot-smoking Giles (Oliver Platt) in Seattle. She tends to write articles about not so talented music stars, such as street singer Lucas Stone (Ryan Eggold who is proving he can be more than a warped spy on TV's The Blacklist). They have casual sex but the rock around Ellie neck is an article she is forced to write about a famous rock star Matthew Smith who ha been missing since an apparent car wreck some years back, and who Ellie was in love with back in his heyday. She ultimately agrees to do a story (more like investigative journalism) mush at the insistence of her best friend, bar tender Dana (Nina Arianda). Lacking money to make a trip to Matthew Smith country, she borrows form Giles, is ripped off by Lucas, borrows from a very strange wealthy Charlie (Thomas Hayden Church) who wants to make a documentary on Ellie looking for Matthew Smith. How that all ends up is a study of the human psyches as attached to loves of the past and longings of the present but to tell more would be a spoiler. It should be added that Johnny Depp makes a very brief but central appearance….The cast is exemplary, especially Toni Collette who at last has a role that allows her to show just what a fine comedienne as well as serious actress she is. Tune in to the video on demand offer Amazon presents – no telling when they'll release a DVD of this treasureable film. Highly recommended.