Just Your Luck

"Radix malorum est cupiditas," wrote Chaucer in the"Pardoner's Tale," "greed is the root of evil." In this black comedy the greedy end up just as justly punished as in his story. Five law-abiding people--two lawyers out on a date, a baker, a diner owner, and his waitress--have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to become millionaires when an old man in the diner collapses and dies while brandishing his winning lottery ticket. Instead of calling an ambulance and seeing to it that the ticket goes to his next of kin, they scheme to keep it themselves. This sets in motion a chain of events, some funny, some tragic, which, unfortunately, are not paced with the necessary skill. The movie drags, and would have benefited from cutting and better editing. Nevertheless, it's often quite engaging, with interesting work by Virginia Madsen and Sean Patrick Flanery as scum-sucking lawyers. Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau from "Swingers" have supporting roles. Worth a look, but you may find yourself fast-forwarding in spots.

This movie was not so great, but it had a good plot. The characters were funny and well-thought and the suspense was riveting. The only problem, I thought, was the ending. I don't want to give it away, so I'll just say that it wasn't what I expected. It will probably be the same for you. I give it ** out of ****.

i must say that i thought that this was a great movie. yes the ending was a problem but if you see it more than once like a couple of times the way i have you'll see the end fits in perfectly with the rest of the story even though it is a very downbeat ending, that's all i will say about the ending. I am glad more and more people seem to be checking out this movie for it is a great movie. the characters are likable precisly because their doing unlikable things. in that sense it's like seinfeld. i hope the writer director gets another shot at making a movie because this was very good . ok the plot was not incredibly original but elements of it were for instance one of the best things about it was the way the movie is set in an all night diner. that was a good and original idea i must say. i will honestly never be in another diner again without thinking of this movie immediately. the actors are all uniformly good. I really liked Jon Polito (using a very nice and effective fake accent) as the immigrant cook who is only concerned with running a restaurant. Sean patrick flannery is good also here being the center breakput star of the film after being a supporting character in many other films. this film is again filled with familiar faces. alanah ubach is the young waitress, ernie hudson (yes winston the ghostbuster) is in it as well as rising star vince vaughn in a very early role. john Faveru also a very small part and virginia madsen (survivor of many bad movies) is on hand as well. John lurie and Flea two different musicians turned actors show up towards the end there's mike starr as a cop (a role he could play in his sleep.) and lastly there's bill erwin who's been in so many things just his face is enough to send shivers of recognition up your back. and then there's caroll baker who i never heard of before.

so as i was saying this is a cast of mostly rising stars (some falling ones as well) trying to earn a paycheck. The result is a very good movie. I highly enjoyed it but you can't help thinking it could have been better. The ending is not a copout and the whole movie is covered in a taratinoish vibe. but the whole diner thing is beautiful. It's diner meets pulp fiction meets a simple plan. however blended together these elements -the plots the actors the characters you have a highly entertaining movie which will leave you with something to think about at the end, which is more then i can say for a lot of other films out there. Rent this film and you will see why i like it a lot even though it is like some other movies you probably have seen. The box by the way labels it as a comedy but its not really a comedy so much as a drama. there are some laughs but not many. it's a great movie to see when you are upset or angry, when you hate the rest of the world.

it will stand the test of time as one of the best of the post-taratino crime films with an atmosphere all its own. congratulations to gary auerbach the writer director for doing so.

I hope more people get around to seeing it, "PIES FRIES ICE CREAM COKE IS NO JOKE" "IS NICE"

This is a well written, well acted, and horribly photographed character play about a group of diner patrons who decide to split the winnings of a lottery ticket of a recently deceased man. Plot twists and double crosses abound in this rickety comedy.

Overall, this flick may be better appreciated as another chance to catch Jon Faverau and Vince Vaughn on screen together. Although they both have supporting roles (like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in "School Ties"), the fact that independent cinema's finest creative duo both star in this one, makes it even more worth a look.

I wasn't expecting too much from this film as I could honestly say I hadn't heard of it before I saw it but I was pleasantly surprised. This film is entertaining quick paced full of one liners that are not always but more often than not, funny. Look out for the old mad woman , she steals the funny bits in the film . 7 out of 10.