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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.

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.

Chances and Lucky are great reads, but to say that the miniseries doesn't do it justice is a HUGE understatement. It's not the worst thing ever made. I just wish that the powers that were had been a little more faithful to the book, at least in the casting part. I mean, blonde, blue-eyed Nicolette Sheridan as Lucky, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! That also goes for Sandra Bullock being cast as Maria and Shawnee Smith being cast as Olimpia. The casting director was either drunk or in a hurry. The closest that the casting people got was with Gino, played by Vincent Irizarry. There were also a lot of plots that were skipped, like Dario's homosexuality, Carrie's abuse and rape as well as how and why she came to be a prostitute, the stories of Gino's abusive father, and the list goes on and on. I would pay anything to see a "CORRECTLY CASTED AND NON-POLITICALLY CORRECT" remake of this movie, whether it be on the small screen or on the big screen, preferably on the small screen, or otherwise many subplots may have to be sacrificed due to time. Let me know if it ever happens.

As other reviewers have already mentioned, the casting is awful and, with the exceptions of Gino, Enzio and Steven, everything else is inaccurate. I didn't have a problem with the first part of the series. It was the second half. It was a complete rewrite of the Lucky and characters were completely left out. I loved the books and had just reread them when I stumbled across the miniseries on YouTube. Now I know why it never made it to DVD. Awful. I can't believe Jackie Collins (as Executive Producer no less!) signed off on this hot mess.

I thought that this was a good movie and that Nicolette Sheridan did a great job in the role of "Lucky". However there are parts of this movie which are not the same as the book. Overall the casting of Vincent Irizarry and Michael Nader were perfect as "Gino" and "Enzio" and if you don't blink you will see Sandra Bullock in this film.