Movie Review - 'The Lucky Ones'

The Lucky Ones

Starring Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, and Michael Pena
Directed by Neil Burger
Rated R

Neil Burger has shown tremendous range in just two major feature films. The first, 2006’s The Illusionist, had a tremendous cinematic beauty and one of those star-crossed-lovers stories. It looked European, epic, and serious. His new film, The Lucky Ones, doesn’t share any of those characteristics but it’s more personal and is probably a slightly better, most enduring movie. Filmed almost like a documentary, The Lucky Ones follows three American soldiers returning home from the war in Iraq. Cheever (Tim Robbins) has been a career soldier, but following back surgery, he’s leaving the Army for good. Colee (Rachel McAdams) joined the Army young because she had nowhere else to go. She’s recovering from a gunshot to the leg and has been sent back home for a month. Of course, with no home to go to, she charts her own course, hoping to deliver a fallen soldier's guitar to his family in Las Vegas. TK (Michael Peña) is recovering from an injury to a more delicate part of the body, but he’ll be back in Iraq when his 30-day leave is over. Due to a series of canceled flights on the east coast, the soldiers rent a van and drive cross-country to make it home. It’s not surprising that we learn about the characters during the road trip; that’s the function of a road trip movie. To its detriment, the film does play like a standard road trip flick for quite a while, and it should be a little better than that. Regardless, what we learn - both about the soldiers and the actors portraying them - catches us a little off-guard. None of them exhibit any bitterness towards their military service, none of them talk about being in Iraq for the wrong reasons, and all of them show a little quiet dignity. All three actors steal a bit of glory for themselves, but it’s McAdams who shines brightest, deftly handling the drama and the lighter moments in The Lucky Ones with ease, grace, and vulnerability. You might believe you know how Tim Robbins will handle his business here, since he is extremely outspoken opponent of the war, and has been since before the invasion in 2003. If that's the case, you're in for a pleasant surprise. But what Robbins knows is that he's playing a character named Cheever, not a guy who necessarily thinks like Tim Robbins. This is Peña's best performance since his breakout in Crash a few years ago, and when every major actor in a film does great work, a lot of credit has to go to the screenwriters, who in this case are director Neil Burger and Dirk Winterborn. Burger is not interested in tearing down the war, because that’s been done for years. He is interested in building up the soldiers, represented here as brave and fragile, humble and proud. If The Lucky Ones does that, despite being a little messy and formulaic, I think I can accept that.

Comments

[Deb]

I thought this movie was amazing. I'd have thrown in a few more damn dirty apes.