Just My Luck (2006)

Director:

Donald Petrie

Writers (WGA):

I. Marlene King (screenplay) and
Amy Harris (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 May 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

Everything changed in the wink of an eye.

Plot:

Manhattanite Ashley is known to many as the luckiest woman around. After a chance encounter with a down-and-out young man, however, she realizes that she's swapped her fortune for his.

Plot Keywords:

Concert | Umbrella | Band | Hit By Car | Toy

Awards:

4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. May 26	10:15 AM	HBO
Fri. May 30	7:15 PM	HBO

Cast

Lindsay Lohan	...	Ashley Albright
Chris Pine	...	Jake Hardin
Samaire Armstrong	...	Maggie
Bree Turner	...	Dana
Faizon Love	...	Damon Phillips
Missi Pyle	...	Peggy Braden
Makenzie Vega	...	Katy
Carlos Ponce	...	Antonio
Tom Fletcher	...	Himself - McFly Band Member
Danny Jones	...	Himself - McFly Band Member
Harry Judd	...	Himself - McFly Band Member
Dougie Poynter	...	Himself - McFly Band Member
Tovah Feldshuh	...	Madame Z
Jaqueline Fleming	...	Tiffany
Dane Rhodes	...	Mac

Also Known As:

Lady Luck (USA) (working title)
Lucky (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

USA:103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Brazil:Livre | Malaysia:U | Sweden:Btl | Germany:o.Al. | Australia:PG | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:G | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41815) | UK:PG | Netherlands:MG6 | Iceland:L | France:U | Canada:G (Quebec) | Denmark:A | Norway:A | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malta:12

Filming Locations:

Grand Central Station, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

New Regency Pictures

Trivia:

When McFly are preparing to go on stage for the Hard Rock Cafe, Dougie Poynter is playing "Carousel" by Blink-182.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Most washers stop when you open the lid.

Quotes:

Ashley Albright: Jake is the guy I kissed at the masquerade bash.
Dana: No!
Ashley Albright: Yes.
Dana: No!
Ashley Albright: Yes!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: The Worst of 2006" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Slipstream

Films with music stars keep getting poorer

Films have a poor reputation when they involve stars from the music industry (or should I say 'pop stars' as I categorically refuse to put Britney Spears and McFly in the same batch as the deity Bach and Wagner). Thus, I wasn't expecting much when I got up at a ridiculously early time so I could see the only showing Brighton Marina cinema had of Just My Luck with an audience consisting of 3 people (including me).

The storyline is predictably simple, Ashley (played by Lindsay Lohan) has good luck and Jake (played by Chris Pine) has bad luck. Ashley holds down a successful job although the audience is unaware of what job she is successful at. By contrast, Jake is head of a small-time band known as McFly. Ashley gets lucky (although what you mean by 'lucky' is key here, (see below,) by improvising for her company and landing a 'big-ball-date'. At this 'big ball', Ashley kisses Jake who has hijacked the ball as a professional dancer to try and get the prestigious Damon Phillips (played by Faizon Love) to look at his band. Via this kiss, Jake gains all of Ashley's luck and suddenly everything goes wrong for Ashley and everything goes right for Jake. McFly became famous and eventually are asked to play at a 'Hard Rock café'. After learning from a clairvoyant what has happened, Ashley tries looking for her luck doing random silly stuff including kissing all the professional dancers (which is probably why she took the role), eating someone's leftovers from an unhygienic cafe before, pivotally, falling for Jake. She eventually discovers Jake has 'stolen' (her words, not mine) her luck and she attempts to get it back from him. I shall stop at this point as I think to go any far would ruin the ending but, if the truth were told, it isn't anything to write home about.

I believe commentators have gone a little too far in categorising it as one of the worst films ever made and may want to ask themselves for what reason they believe it to be so poor. It may not be a particularly a good film, but this it is difficult to see how it could have been any better. May be one criticism of this film is its target audience. The target audience is rather narrow, there is nothing that will stimulate you and the jokes are rather immature and 'teeny-poppy'. If you like that sort of thing, you might be happy seeing this film… it was rather predictable from the outset what it was going to be like, Lindsay Lohan has too small a range to play to play any other character-types! So, we must accept that most people are going to be outside of its 'target audience'.

I was disappointed with the characters, though, Ashley was, paradoxically not entirely an alpha female. I'm not sure who or what Ashley was supposed to be and I don't think the actor knew either. This was demonstrated in her mediocre acting. It doesn't seem realistic that Jake fell in love naturally with Ashley for any reason other than pity. Am I wrong in thinking that most girls don't want to be pitied? I think what annoyed me most the lack of basic coherent structure. As already alluded to in earlier statements, I don't think this film defines what luck actually is and, as a result, there is no clear distinction between what is 'luck' and what is 'intelligence'. For example, if someone works very hard to achieve a degree and gains a first, one wonders whether it was gained through pure luck or intellect? In contrast, Lindsay gets her position because she sits in on other people's discussions (according to the film) and based on what she has learnt decides the best way of organising a ball. Her offer is accepted and she does very well within her company, is this plain luck or is that because she deserved it? Later in the film, even when she knows that she has overdone the washing powder, she still switches it on even though she does not know where the 'off' switch… I'm not sure what that has to do with luck. Similarly, when she tries to replace a lightbulb. What has this got to do with luck? The main point is that there is no 'depth' to this film. Here is a film looking for a theme and a structure. If it purports to be a comedy, I fail to see the joke. While it isn't the worst film you'd ever see you will probably come out feeling as dissatisfied as I did.