Lucky Chances

I too saw this movie at a young age of 14, but I had read the book first. I agree that mostly of the characters were casted wrong. For instance in the book Maria is described as a fair skinned woman with white blond hair yet Sandra Bullock played her. Being the early 1990's no network would have been prepared to handle the open gayness of Dario (no-doubtly it wasn't "PC" yet) I think they could have added a bit more violence when trying to explore Mobster actions. It would be interesting if they remade the movie now would it resemble The Sopranos in some way would it be violent and hoping they would make better casting choices?? The book was better than the movie you were able to get more involved with the character's and their story.

I have always loved this TV-series, and now I'm rewatching it for the fourth time I think. (Many years between the times) I also read the book in my early teens. I think this filmization is underated, it has that nice 80:s vibe that brings nostalgia and makes you feel good, the type casting and acting serves it's purpose perfectly. It's hard to not get engaged in the turns and thrills of the story.

As usual, the movie is nothing like the book. I really enjoyed the book, because you became invested in the characters. However, I did the process backwards: I saw the movie before I saw the film and liked the film. I saw it at a fairly young age, but I still liked it. Vincent Irizarry was on my mother's soap, so we had to see anything he was in. Nicolette was not the right person for Lucky I think. And Sandra Bullock as Maria? The entire purpose of the character was not what Bullock represented, but it's how I first fell in love with her and remember her to this day. However, she wasn't right for the part either. The movie was fair enough, but you could tell that NBC wasn't ready to deal with Dario's homosexuality and real mob violence. It almost had the moral appeal of an after school special. The movie should of took itself more seriously. I liked the movie, but after reading the book, the actors were all wrong for the characters.

Lucky/Chances is a good movie based on a good book. I read the books first prior to watching the movie and it does follow the book closely with a few minor chnages. Vincent Irizarry could not have made a better Gino and Nicollette Sheridan was perfect to play Lucky. The acting may have been a tad bit over-the-top, but many of Jackie Collins' books are and that's probably why the movie was done that way. I'd personally love to see a silver screen version of this book so that more details of the story could be shown (there was a lot that couldn't be shown on t.v.).

I can't believe some reviewers have given this mini series such low ratings! True the movie doesn't hold a torch to the book, but that being said, I don't think anyone who's ever read ANY book first and then seen the movie version afterwards can say they didn't leave anything out. To be honest, I read the book a long time ago & thoroughly enjoyed it. When they showed the mini series on tv, I was also a little disappointed that so much had been left out but as with any book turned movie there are always things either left out or changed. They would have had to make the mini series much, much longer than it was. (Which would have been fine with me!) And let's not forget it was made in 1990. Just keep an open mind & don't expect the movie to be 100% identical to the book! While I agree some of the casting was hit or miss, IMHO, Vincent Irizarry was fantastic as Gino, Sandra Bullock as Maria, Michael Nader as Enzio, Phil Morris as Steven, & Nicolette Sheridan, while I never envisioned her to play the part of Lucky, she IS beautiful and she totally nailed the sexy, smoldering thing that Lucky always seemed to have going on. Now can we please talk about Tim Ryan as Lennie Golden for a moment? Holy moley, he looked as well as played that part to the tee - perfectly! He has that boyishly handsome charm about him & that sexy smile and laugh of his made me wish I was Nicolette Sheridan every time she made out with him! Talk about "lucky!" 😄 I was so bummed out that Tim didn't play Lennie in the sequel, Lady Boss. The other guy didn't hold a candle to him! I came on this site to see what else he's played in so I could see more of him. Bummer he doesn't play in more movies so I can lust over him longer than just short clips! 😁 It's too bad Jackie Collins has passed on since she was always one of my favorite authors. It would have been nice to see a lot more of her books turned into movies!