7 Times Lucky

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C+     Film: C+

 

 

Kevin Pollak deserves credit for always trying to find and do something different, eve if it does not work out.  G.B. Yates’ 7 Times Lucky (2004) intrigued him like nothing since The Usual Suspects he says in an interview, but the film only has the genre in common.  Though it has some good moments and the cast of mostly unknowns are up to the task of the film, Yates screenplay is too distracted with filler and dumb talk padding the script to have a well-rounded story.

 

Harlan (Pollak) is a guy desperate for money and also loves to gamble, a temptation that makes him to the dumbest thing he could, gamble with a pile of money belonging to his mob boss.  In that, you could simply dismiss him as an idiot and skip the film, but Pollak is too good to do that to, so the story moves on.  It then relies on meeting an assortment of characters around Christmas, which is when the film fails.  You never care about anyone else, find it harder and harder to suspend disbelief and it all never adds up to any promise it starts out with.  Pollak remains interesting and holds the film together for the most part in what it’s worth, but he has no “luck” with this film.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is not bad, but has some video black and detail issues.  Cinematographer Steve Cosens does what he can to make the film look interesting, but that cannot save it from its writing, which should have skipped the Christmas angle.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has some Pro Logic surrounds to it, but the music and songs are not very memorable.  Extras include text notes about the production, text cast/crew info, original trailer, deleted scenes with optional commentary, director’s audio commentary, stills and a behind-the-scenes featurette.  For Pollak fans only.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo