Film No. 12 (2015) Lucky Them February 25th.

Film No. 12 (2015) February 25th. 6:30 PM PARADISO Northbridge.

"Look at it this way, at least you didn't give a dead animal to somebody on their wedding day". (Charlie, consoling Ellie after the disastrous unveiling of his gift to his bride on the day of their wedding). 

Lucky Them

Sometimes a movie is made and it's okay - but the story behind how it came into being may have made a better film. Such a film is Lucky Them. Co-Writer/Producer Emily Wachtel had allegedly been working on her semi autobiographical script from 2004 under the watchful eye of Paul Newman. Newman passed away in 2008 and his wife Joanne Woodward signed up as executive producer.

With funding secure, the film was a "lock". The lenghty time-span which incorporated writing, shooting and then editing gives Lucky Them more of a T.V. pilot feel than that of a feature film. Toni Collette plays Ellie King, a music journalist who displays flashes of genius but only when the motivation for the story is strong enough. Her assignment on this occasion is to track down an old flame who happens to be a rock legend who disappeared in mysterious circumstances.

Collette is the glue which holds Lucky Them together, with a typically likable performance, but it is the contribution of Thomas Hayden Church as Charlie which brings the film a unique laugh out loud quality. In the same way Woodward provided finance for Wachtel's project, Charlie bankrolls Ellie's quest to find her "white whale".

Eventually our oddly matched duo solve the mystery but there is a slightly surprising twist. After 100 minutes of meandering with Ellie and Charlie through bars, in Charlie's opulent abode and across country in an RV  the titles roll and a sweet but forgettable film ends. Remind me to look this film up again in 12 months, I won't remember it otherwise.  6GUMS