Lucky You (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lucky You

Promotional poster for Lucky You
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Produced by Denise Di Novi
Carol Fenelon
Brian De Palma
Written by Eric Roth (story & screenplay)
Curtis Hanson (screenplay)
Starring Eric Bana
Drew Barrymore
Robert Duvall
Debra Messing
Music by Christopher Young
Cinematography Peter Deming
Editing by William Kerr
Craig Kitson
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) May 4, 2007
Running time 124 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Lucky You is a 2007 drama directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, and Robert Duvall.

Contents

[edit] Plot

 The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article.
Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) is a young and talented poker player in Las Vegas haunted by his relationship with his estranged father, two-time World Series of Poker Champion L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall). Huck is a regular in Vegas poker rooms and wants to get a seat in the $10,000 main event No Limit Texas Hold 'em tournament at the World Series of Poker.

After a good night at the Bellagio poker room, Huck goes to a party and meets aspiring singer Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore), who has just arrived in town. The two seem interested in each other, but Billie's older sister Suzanne (Debra Messing) warns her that Huck is "hustle 10, commitment zero."

Back at the Bellagio, Huck is doing well at the tables before L.C. returns to town from the South of France. Huck greets his father coldly. The two play heads-up.

Loan shark Roy Durucher (Charles Martin Smith) who just observed the hand tells Huck that he plays poker as well as anybody, but he's a "blaster" (not patient enough) and always goes for broke. Roy proposes to finance Huck in the $10,000 main-event with a 60 (Roy) - 40 (Huck) split if they win, but Huck refuses.

After failing to borrow money from his friend Jack (Robert Downey Jr.), Huck goes to Suzanne's place hoping to get a loan. Instead he runs into Billie, who gets a call confirming that she has landed a job singing at a nightclub. Huck proposes a celebration and takes her to play poker at Binion's Horseshoe with the $1,000 in traveler's checks she has brought to Vegas. After introducing the game to her, L.C. arrives and shows Huck his mother's wedding ring that Huck had pawned and that LC he has redeemed.

Huck repays the money he borrowed from Billie with interest. However, he loses his winnings after she leaves. He fails to borrow money from his tenant.

Huck heads to the nightclub and asks Billie out to dinner. Over Chinese food, Huck explains that his father stole from his mother before leaving her. Billie observes that Huck hates his father but still became a poker player. Huck says his father taught him how to play on the kitchen table with "pennies, nickels, and dimes."

After dinner, they make love at Huck's place. As Billie sleeps, Huck steals from Billie's purse to play poker at the Bellagio again. Huck and Billie fall out over him stealing money from her.

Huck goes to play in a super satellite for his entry to the main event. He appears to have the seat won, but a misdeal causes him to lose the seat.

At the apartment, Huck apologizes to Billie again and says that he feels that they have a chance at something special. He says that if they end their relationship now, they'll never know.

Despite a reconcilliation, Billie and Huck break up again due to Huck's gambling. When Huck goes to Suzanne's apartment looking for Billie, Suzanne says that Billie has gone home for a couple of days.

Huck goes to Bakersfield and tells Billie at her house that he meant what he said when he felt they had a chance at something special.

Huck plays poker against LC while his and Billie's futures remain undecided. Huck lets his father win and they become reconciled.

[edit] Fact vs. Fiction

Lucky You is set during the 2003 World Series of Poker, a watershed year for the WSOP and for poker itself, as the game became more of a spectator sport through the use of hole-card cameras that allowed audience to see a player's cards even if the hand never went to a showdown. This was also the year Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event, proving that an unknown amateur could win it all and thus generating even more interest in the game. Online poker was also growing hugely in popularity, which is addressed in passing in the film. The movie, while fictional, references these facts by having a Moneymaker-esque amateur win it all and by having Huck refuse to show his cards to the hole-card cam, believing that it will reveal how he plays and give future opponents an edge against him. The name "Huck" may also be a reference to former Main Event winner Huck Seed.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Poker players

Many of the poker players that can be seen playing are actual poker pros.[1] They are:

However three of the poker pros featured in the film play characters in the movie. They are:

World Series of Poker

[edit] Music

The soundtrack included numerous George Jones tunes, including Drew Barrymore singing his hit "The Cold Hard Truth" and the original Bob Dylan song "Huck's Tune" which was written specifically for the film.

[edit] Release dates

The movie was released on May 4, 2007. The movie was originally to be released on September 8, 2006, and was previously scheduled to debut on March 16, 2007.

[edit] Reception

The film debuted with a tepid $2.7 million in ticket sales, finishing with just over $5.7 million in total revenue. It was a box-office bomb in a summer of blockbusters. Critically it ranked a low 28% at Rotten Tomatoes.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Internet Movie Database (Cast) Retrieved June 1,2007.

[edit] External links