In “The Lucky One”, the latest film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book (which I have not read), Zac Efron plays a former Marine who, after three tours in Iraq, ends up in Louisiana to find the woman whose picture he thinks was his lucky charm which kept him safe during the war.
While in Iraq, Logan (Efron) picks up a photograph that is on the ground amidst some rubble. The simple act of reaching for that picture saves his life, as a bomb goes off nearby which doesn’t kill him, because he wasn’t within the bomb’s radius. Later, while still in Iraq, his vehicle is attacked and he is the only survivor.
Once he arrives home (Colorado I believe) he finds it hard to adjust to civilian life, and he is haunted by his memories of the war. He becomes obsessed with finding the woman in the picture so he walks, yes walks, to Louisiana with his dog (he recognized where the photo was taken by a landmark in the background, a lighthouse which he compared to lighthouses on the internet to find the one he was looking for) and, after showing the picture and asking around, he finds Beth and her family’s business, a dog kennel. Beth misunderstands Logan’s arrival and thinks he is applying for a job, which he accepts in order to get to know Beth better.
Beth and her son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) live with Beth’s grandmother Ellie (the always delightful Blythe Danner) in a big old house right next to the kennel. Unfortunately, Beth’s ex-husband also Ben’s father Keith (Jay R. Ferguson) also lives in town. They married right after high school, when Beth got pregnant (how often does that end up working out??) and they couldn’t make it work so they split up. Keith is not very nice and he is always threatening to take Ben away from Beth.
While spending time with Beth, Logan finds it hard to keep his secret. I kept wishing that he would have told her right at the beginning, because keeping secrets is never a good idea!! It turns out that the photograph belonged to someone close to Beth who did not make it out of Iraq alive (which is why her picture was in the rubble).
I pretty much always like Zac Efron in any role he plays, and I look forward to seeing more of him because he only gets better with age. I haven’t seen Taylor Schilling in anything before so she was pretty much an unknown to me, but she was good in the role. Riley Thomas Stewart and Blythe Danner also gave good performances.
Overall a decent film, women and teenage girls will likely enjoy it more than the men. It had enough sappy romance to keep us entertained and some steamy love scenes as well!!
