Good Luck Chuck Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)September 27th, 2007
GOOD LUCK CHUCK
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2007 David N. Butterworth
*1/2 (out of ****)
To get a pretty good sense of what one can expect from the new Dane Cook/Jessica Alba "comedy" "Good Luck Chuck" (notice I didn't say "romantic comedy" and put "comedy" in quotes) one need look no further than the film's plot keywords as summarized in the Internet Movie Database: Breasts, Topless, Temptation, Curse, Sexual Wiles, Fat Girl, Nudity, Casual Sex, Celibacy, Female Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Self Discipline, Sex On The Beach, Sex Comedy, Male Female Relationship, and Character Name In Title.
These, like the list of ingredients in a can of Beefaroni, are pretty much in order of quantity I'd say. One should also take note of the fact that the word "comedy" doesn't show up until *way* down the list.
I don't know if director Mark Helfrich is a 13-year-old boy but "Good Luck Chuck" sure plays like it was made by one. The obsession with the naked female body (upper half, mostly) is tantamount; uppermost; all encompassing. And it's not just the imagery on display it's also the dialogue: vulgar as in crude not vulgar as in funny. It's a sex comedy that puts the sex so upfront and center it forgets to add the laughs. "Good Luck Chuck" is a soft-core male indulgence posing as a hip Hollywood good luck chuckle. Like most of the characters that populate it the film is lewd, obnoxious, and off-putting, shallow and offensive at every turn, demeaning not simply to women but to just about anyone with a semi-functional brain in their head.
Plot-wise there's not much to "'Chuck." Young Charlie Logan (soon to grow up to be Dane Cook) is cursed during a game of spin-the-bottle when he fails to put the moves on an overzealous Goth girl. As her damning hex goes, anyone sleeping with Charlie thereafter will *then* meet the man of her dreams. Once the word gets out, women are literally lining up outside Charlie's door--"You have... 108 messages." Chuck's good luck, you see, a direct conduit (one step removed) to true love.
Maybe it's me but I don't see Cook as leading man material: lanky, face like a doofus, permanent stoner grin, hair forever mussed. I see him in a Harold and Kumar picture that's where I see him, or in "American Pie V." I certainly don't buy him as a *dentist*. But Charlie is the epitomy of cool compared to his best friend Stu (Dan Fogler), a plastic surgeon (another major stretch) who gets to juggle breasts all day long. Stu plays the boorish, oversexed, foul-mouthed devil to Charlie's chivalrous saint yet Charlie doesn't exactly hold back when his waiting room is suddenly chock-a-block with buxom bimbos.
Jessica Alba's role in all this is to play the woman Charlie actually falls for, a penguin wrangler at the local marine park. Charlie can't sleep with Cam, of course, because then she'll fall for the next guy. Hmm... Dilemma. Falling is the operative word here since Cam's tendency is to constantly walk into inanimate objects: car doors, walls, Charlie, etc. Alba doles out a few too many pratfalls for my money but you can hardly blame her when the script has her careening out of control every other scene.
Where's the funny in all of this? I couldn't see it for the boobs.
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David N. Butterworth
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
