Bilhete Premiado

Lucky Numbers is not a great film but a good one. I thought John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow and Tim Roth and Ed O'Neill gave fine performances. Lisa Kudrow is the only one of the "Friends" cast who doesn't make totally sucky movies. With the exception of Jennifer Aniston in Office Space and maybe David Schwimmer in Apt Pupil.

I really dug the Midwest American setting, the two bumbling cops, how Travolta's character Russ Richards wallows and loves his local celebrity status and his reserved parking spot at the local Denny's, and the great 80's soundtrack. And this has to be the first flick directed by Nora Ephron that I enjoyed.

Adam Resnick wrote the screenplay for Lucky Numbers and the more recent Death To Smoochy. Both these films are good but flawed dark comedies and deserve to be seen and enjoyed. So don't listen to what others may say and go see these two (flawed) Resnick gems. Ciao!

Nora Ephron's Lucky Numbers has it's moments, but in the long run it is a near miss. The plot has a successfull weatherman and snowmotor businessman played by John Travolta in a somewhat redeemable performance (after Battlefield Earth, even though he wasn't bad in that). But, he starts to get in debt, and his snowmotor business is loosing because of a warm winter. So, he and his girl (Lisa Kudrow is wickedly cruel yet sometimes funny) get the idea to rig the lottery, but things go wrong. The film is all over the map, with too many characters and a lot of plot going into something that doesn't need it, and I'm talking about a dark comedy here, so know where I'm coming from. 2 very funny scenes though almost make up the utter lulls in the film: a scene where Travolta has a blank expression on his face while trying to report the weather and hearing about a murder linked to him; and the 2 exceptional scenes with Michael Moore (of Roger & Me fame) as Kudrow's pathetic, asthmatic cousin. Now if only these scenes were put in a slightly better film. C+

John Travolta is embarrassing. He is NOT funny. Unfortunately the story is about his character Russ Richards. This Russ Richards annoys everyone in the movie and the audience. Travolta's last good movie was 1997's SHE'S SO LOVELY.

Lisa Kudrow does her best, but can't save the movie. Her character ranges between being stupid and being ruthless. Some of the better moments AND laughs come from her.

Bill Pullman steals the show as a cop who doesn't want to work. Unfortunately he only appears at the end of the movie when you are so bored that you are not longer interested in what is happening next.

Good cast (except Travolta), poor story, nothing special. 4 out of 10

Picture this.... a room that is full of people and only one of them has any redeeming values whatsoever but that person is patently unlikable. If this sounds like it might be a fun story, you're right. I enjoyed this movie on the simplest and most shallow level. It's no great spellbinder, there is no big surprise, but it moves along nicely and had be laughing out loud on a consistent basis. The performances were good with each character convincingly revolting. This movie is on my "Own It" list. Not because it is a masterpiece but because it managed to entertain me its entire length. I recommend this guilty pleasure to anyone who isn't too wrapped up in pretending they are a movie critic for PBS.

Do not go into this movie expecting sheer hilarity. Do not go into this movie expecting character development. Do not go into this movie expecting realism or a positive portrayal of Harrisburg, PA and its residents. If you can do that, you might be able to enjoy this for what it is- an unrealistic situation comedy with a couple of surprises and laughs. Think "Disorganized Crime" with more humor. Travolta is actually fairly low-key, Kudrow is not as annoying as I expected, and decent cameos/supporting performances by Ed O'Neill, Darryl Mitchell & Bill Pullman (as good cop/bad cop), Michael Moore (!?!), and Tim Roth. Set your expectations low and you should enjoy it.