Just My Luck Review
Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 05.12.2006
Saturated with the irritating British rock band McFly!
JUST MY LUCK
May 12, 2006
Ashley Albright: Lindsay Lohan
Jake Hardin: Chris Pine
Damon Phillips: Faizon Love
Peggy Braden: Missi Pyle
Dana: Bree Turner
Maggie: Samaire Armstrong
As Themselves: McFly
Twentieth Century Fox presents a film directed by Donald Petrie. The story is by I. Marlene King, Jonathan Bernstein, Mark Blackwell, and James Greer. The screenplay is by King and Amy B. Harris. The running time is 103 minutes. It is rated PG-13 for some brief sexual references.
BY JACOB ZIEGLER, 411Movies
Looking at a list of upcoming Lindsay Lohan films, I see "Prairie Home Companion," directed by Robert Altman, "Bobby," a drama about the assassination of Robert Kennedy directed by Emilio Estevez, and "Chapter 27," a drama about Mark David Chapman (the man who assassinated John Lennon in 1980)."
So it seems as if "Just My Luck" may be the last teen fluff movie for Lohan before she attempts to build a solid body of work. If there's one thing that separates Lohan from her counterparts like Hilary Duff among others (and believe me, there's more than one thing), it's that she has managed to be in some pretty good movies that had crossover appeal like "Freaky Friday" and "Mean Girls." "Just My Luck" isn't on the level of those two films, but it's a fine little movie that is wholesome enough to be rated PG. The mystery of the MPAA continues.
Anyway, Lohan plays Ashley Albright, a young Manhattan socialite who works at a public relations firm and has the most amazing luck. This frustrates her friends Dana (Bree Turner) and Maggie (Samaire Armstrong), but Ashley just claims positive thinking or some such other nonsense for her ridiculous good fortune. She gets a new office and a company credit card from her boss Peggy Braden (Missi Pyle of "Big Fish") to plan a big party for one of their most important clients, music mogul Damon Phillips (Faizon Love, playing the character like Santa Clause crossed with Suge Knight).
Unfortunately, at the party Ashley spent so much time planning (about 10 seconds, as far as the movie shows us), she crosses paths with Jake (Chris Pine), a guy so unlucky that he can't even find a $5 bill without dog feces smeared all over it. They share a truly magical kiss, in the sense that their roles in luck are completely reversed, so that Jake now gets everything the way he wants it and Ashley can't catch a break.
This of course leads to a series of misadventures in which Ashley and Jake play "will they won't they" and the crowd is supposed to get all caught up in the inevitability of these two characters realizing that they are indeed perfect for each other. They go through the usual motions, but somehow manage to leave the "guy likes other, trampier girl for a while until realizing that he really likes the nicer, cuter girl" storyline behind, even though they go so far as to introduce the tramp. They spend much more time with Jake's younger cousin, who isn't as obnoxious as some little kids in movies can be.
"Just My Luck" will appeal to those it's meant to appeal to, and parents looking to take their kids to something harmless will do just fine here. While it doesn't benefit me in any way, it was a perfectly pleasant afternoon at the cinema and it's comforting to know that there are some movies that say they're wholesome and really are.
These teen fluff movies were a good launching pad for her career, and "Just My Luck" is an adequate sendoff to this fruitful period.
The 411: “Just My Luck” is a perfectly acceptable, affable film. Lohan’s considerable charm and charisma are more than enough to carry this film to its modest goals. I look forward to seeing what she can do with a more serious career on the horizon.
