| Good Luck Chuck | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Mark Helfrich |
| Produced by | Mike Karz |
| Written by | Josh Stolberg |
| Starring | Dane Cook Jessica Alba Dan Fogler Chelan Simmons |
| Music by | Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Editing by | Julia Wong |
| Studio | Karz Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
| Release date(s) | September 21, 2007 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million[1] |
| Box office | $59,192,128 [2] |
Good Luck Chuck is a 2007 romantic comedy film starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba. In the film, women find their "one true love" after having sex with a dentist named Chuck (Cook). Chuck meets a girl named Cam (Alba) and tries to become her true love.
The film opened in theaters on September 21, 2007 and was heavily panned by critics.
Contents |
While playing a game seven minutes in heaven at a party in 1985, 10-year-old Charles "Chuck" Logan (Connor Price) refuses to have sex with a goth girl named Anisha (Sasha Pieterse). In retaliation, Anisha places a curse on Chuck, so that every single woman he sleeps with will break up with him and marry the next man who asks her out.
In the present, Chuck (Dane Cook) is in his thirties, and runs a dental practice in the same building as his best friend Stu's (Dan Fogler) plastic surgery business. Chuck finds himself unable to tell his girlfriend, Carol (Chelan Simmons), that he loves her, and she breaks up with him while having sex on the beach. At a wedding, Chuck becomes enamored with Cam Wexler (Jessica Alba), a sometimes clumsy, but friendly marine biologist. Chuck asks Cam for a date, but she gently refuses him. While working at a penguin habitat, Cam accidentally slips and chips her tooth. When she visits Chuck to have it fixed, he asks her to go out with him instead of paying him. Though initially reluctant, Cam agrees. Meanwhile, Stu notices the pattern of girls getting married as soon as Chuck has sex with them. Stu eventually convinces Chuck to embrace the influx of women who have learned of his pattern and visit his practice, arguing that there's nothing better than having lots of guilt-free sex. However, after having this so called "guilt-free sex" with numerous women, Chuck decides he wants a serious relationship with Cam. However, just before he has sex with her, Stu informs him that each of the women Chuck has slept with have got married, including Carol. Worried that the same thing will happen to Cam, Chuck begins to avoid her.
Stu convinces Chuck to test the curse by having sex with an obese woman, and see if she marries afterward. Chuck asks Stu to ask the woman out to see if this results in marriage, and when it does not, Chuck concludes that the curse is fake, and has sex with Cam. Afterward, however, Stu confesses that he only pretended to ask the woman, and Chuck discovers that she indeed got married to another man. Chuck believes Cam wants to go out with Howard, who authored a book about penguins. Chuck attempts to track down Anisha. Now married with a child, Anisha tells Chuck that the curse wasn't meant to be real. Still convinced that Cam will date and eventually marry Howard, Chuck tries desperately to get Cam's attention and asks her to marry him. His attempts, though, cause Cam to become convinced he's stalking her and she breaks up with him.
Now deciding to let fate take its course, Chuck puts Cam in touch with Howard, and the two seem to connect instantly. Stu convinces Chuck to chase after Cam, who is now headed to Antarctica with Howard. After Chuck finds her, Cam reveals that Howard is already married to someone else, and that she's only leaving for a week. Chuck hands Cam a ring box containing a pebble, a reference to the penguin mating ritual in which a male penguin finds a stone and brings it to the female penguin he wants to be with. Anisha is shown pulling a pin out of a voodoo doll, and the curse is finally broken. A year later, Chuck and Cam are in Antarctica together surrounded by penguins.
The film was panned by critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, only 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 110 reviews.[3] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 19 out of 100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "extreme dislike or disgust".[4]
Roger Ebert awarded the film 1 out of 4 stars, branding it "potty-mouthed and brain-damaged" and "It looks like Dane Cook's face is literally melting off", whilst his reviewing partner, Richard Roeper, gave an equally damning review, saying that "There is a scene in this movie where a penguin bites Dane Cook in the crotch. I'd like to find that penguin and buy it a drink."[5][6]
The film earned two Razzie Award nominations including Worst Actress (Jessica Alba) and Worst Screen Couple (Alba and Dane Cook).
The film was the second-highest grossing film at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, grossing $13.6 million in 2,612 theaters.[2][7] The film went on to have a total box office tally of approximately $35 million U.S. and $24 million foreign.
The soundtrack was released on 18 September 2007.