A classically handsome, kind-hearted young man and a beautiful young blonde woman fall in love.
It sounds like the basis to the love story Americans hear all too often. The played-out tale, however, is certainly not awful in the new film “The Lucky One,” based on the Nicholas Sparks novel with the same title.
The movie stars Zac Efron (“Charlie St. Cloud”) as Logan, a soft-spoken Marine home from his three tours in Iraq who travels across the country to find the woman in the picture that “saved his life” while in the war. This woman turns out to be Louisiana kennel owner Beth, played by relative newcomer Taylor Schilling.
Logan travels from his sister’s home in Colorado, where he returned when he was finished in Iraq, to Louisiana in search of the woman in a picture he found on the ground during the war.
Logan considers the beautiful blonde-haired woman his “angel” because if he had not retrieved the photo, he would have been standing directly in the path of a grenade.
Once Logan finds Beth, however, he cannot bring himself to immediately tell her why he is in Louisiana. Logan begins working at the kennel with Beth, and Beth’s family begins to take a liking to Logan, including her son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) and her mother Ellie, played by Blythe Danner (best known for her role in the “Meet the Parents” series of films).
The only person who does not take a liking to Logan is Beth’s abusive ex-husband Keith (Jay Ferguson, best known as Stan Rizzo in “Mad Men”).
The tension between the two men brings out the personalities of all the characters, especially Beth, who learns to stand up for herself.
Those who are going to see “The Lucky One” surely know what they are signing up for, as Sparks sticks to a certain system with all his novels. They are often based in the scenic South, usually North Carolina, even though this particular film is set in Louisiana.
Quite a few of his novels involve military men (“Dear John”), and unfortunately, someone always passes away.
Even though any viewer of a Sparks-based movie knows what’s about to come on the big screen, the twist Sparks inserts into his books is one that keeps the books popular and the movies worth making.
Though “The Lucky One” may be a predictable film, it doesn’t mean that it is poorly created. The setting of the film is absolutely beautiful, and the videography makes the viewer want to make an immediate getaway to the bayou.
Another admirable feature of the film was the interesting camera work, particularly during the early scenes in Iraq. At times, the slow-motion and the out-of-focus shots were the ones that made the viewer connect to the film’s subject matter.
The acting in the film could have been better. Beth’s adorable son Ben and her witty mother Ellie tied the film together.
Overall, the predictability of the film makes it a “guilty pleasure,” so to speak, but it’s a love story worth seeing.
thescene@theeageleonline.com
