Since 1999, Nicholas Sparks‘ (“The Notebook”) romance novels have been turned into motion pictures. Capturing the hearts of people from all over the world, his writing skills have wooed his readers into believing that there is such thing as true love. His latest transition, “The Lucky One,” succeeds my expectations of an ideal romantic drama. On opening day, 20 some exhilirated girls stood in line to catch the last showing of the night, and there was even an applause at the end of the movie. When does that ever happen at the end of a chick flick?
Right after his near death experience at war, marine corps General Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) finds a picture of a beautiful girl with a lighthouse in the background. The back of the picture reads “Keep Safe” with a crucifix symbol on it. None of the other marines end up claiming the picture, so Logan then looks at the picture as if he were destined to have it, as if the girl in the picture is his “guardian angel.” The moment he gets to go on leave, he has difficulty adjusting to the normal world environment, and decides to look for the girl in the picture and thank her. When he finds her, he ends up working for her pet training business and falling in love with her before he can tell her about the picture.
Zac Efron’s (“17 Again”) performance in the movie is surprising, with the facial hair and character that doesn’t involve being a jock, you almost don’t recognize the guy from “High School Musical.” Though the heartthrob’s physical appearance is credited for majority of the ticket sales, his new and mature acting style should be appreciated, too. I was caught crying several times during the peak of his scenes, and I would have never expected that to happen.
Taylor Schilling (“Dark Matter”) plays Beth, the girl in the picture. Her character involves being a mother to a child she had in high school, having custody battles with her ex-husbands, and missing her brother who recently died at war. It might seem like her life is too much to handle for her age of early twenties, but she really doesn’t look like she is in her twenties. Her character does not match her at all, even if she was a great actress, the audience wouldn’t be able to take it into consideration because of her aged face. In all honesty, she looks like she could be in her 30s and maybe even 40s, and that isn’t a good match for the leading man. She made the love scenes look illegal with Efron, infact she could also pass for Efron’s mother.
Despite the awkward casting choice with the leading lady, the movie was very heart-warming. It tells viewers that the perfect person in your life could literaly come from any part of the world. It reminds people to take a leap of faith. In all honesty, the movie didn’t move me enough to rant about the negative things it had to offer, and it didn’t move me enough to make it my favorite movie. It’s a good date night movie, and it isn’t a waste of money. Watching the “The Lucky One” is just inspiring for those who haven’t found their true love yet, and it just puts people in a good mood.
The movie is rated PG-13 and the runtime is 101 min.
