Just My Luck (2006)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: D
Lindsay
Lohan was on a roll as a box office star, but after the mixed reception of the Herbie revival at Disney (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) did not go as planned, she had to make a decision to do
something more challenging or assured.
Instead, she decided to make the unbelievably bad Donald Petrie film Just My Luck. This 2006 bomb could have worked with a
better script, in part because Petrie is a decent director. Too bad the L. Marlene King/Amy B. Harris
screenplay is a disaster like nothing since the Nicole Kidman Bewitched.
Lohan is
Ashley, so with a name like that, we are already in trouble. She is soooooooo lucky that when she walks
out of her fancy apartment building as a rain storm downpour ensures, she has
no umbrella, but the rain suddenly stops and the clouds break open. For a minute, I thought I accidentally got
the lame Omen remake.
Anyhow,
when she kisses a guy dressed up as The Green Hornet (or is that an assassin
from Kill Bill? They seem as clueless about this as
everything else) when in disguise wearing a dress she accidentally got
misdelivered to her from Sara Jessica Parker (a curse in itself, especially if
you recently suffered through Failure To
Launch), she suddenly loses her good luck and it transfers to the mystery
guy played with mannequin boredom by one Chris Pine. Now she has bad luck, but no matter how bad,
it cannot match the bad luck for those who sit through this bomb.
Does
Lohan want her career to implode? She
keeps doing safe disasters like this and it will, plus she is getting a bit old
for the bubblegum crowd, as the financial failure of this film proves. Easily the nadir of her career and everyone
else attached.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is better than the lame 1.33 X 1 image,
but has detail issues throughout, though color can be good. Dean Semler, A.C.S./A.S.C., could not even
save this with his quality cinematography.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is surprisingly weak, with limited surrounds
and dialogue that is too up front. You
know you’re in trouble when JoBoxer’s 1980s classic Just Got Lucky as used in the opening credits, sounds terrible when
it is a great sounding record. Extras
include two featurettes and deleted/extended scenes that anyone who saw this
mess were “lucky” enough to be spared.
- Nicholas Sheffo
