Written and directed by Neil Burger, "The Lucky Ones" tells the story of three United States Army soldiers who return from the 2003 US invasion of Iraq to embark on an unplanned road trip across the United States. The film is a fairly faithful update of William Wyler's "The Best Years of Our Lives" and Hal Ashby's "The Last Detail", though Burger claims never to have seen the former film.
Like Wyler's film, which was also ironically titled, "The Lucky Ones" centres on three servicemen of different social strata, rank and age. There's Sgt Cheaver (Tim Robbins), who's wrestling with a divorce and financial problems, Pvt Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams), who's struggling to cope with a wounded leg, poverty and isolation, and Sgt Poole (Michael Pena), whose sex organs have been severely damaged by a piece of shrapnel.
There's a lot of good stuff in the film. Burger's direction is gentle, easygoing and relaxed, our trio of characters are both likable and pleasantly low-key, the gang's road trip is immensely fun and the film features a number of fine conversations. Unfortunately "The Lucky Ones" also contains a number of absolutely god-awful scenes which totally kill the picture. Such heavy handed atrocities – scenes which would embarrass most writers - include a sudden marital break-up, an out-of-nowhere argument over a locked car, a ridiculous car crash and a LITERAL TORNADO ATTACK. Half this movie is a masterpiece of low key observation, the other half is an embarrassment. What's going on?
Still, mentally filter out these terrible moments and the film has a lot to recommend. Burger positions us to sympathise with these soldiers, shows how the army exploits minorities and the marginalised, how each of these characters has absolutely no place to go, no one to take them in but the Armed Forces, how the military engenders dependency, how enlistees treat income and institutional connection as a bigger priority than the larger ethical and political ramifications of War, how the Army neuters ideological conflict (within its staff), how civilians (on either end of the political spectrum) condescendingly treat soldiers, how the military experience is completely divorced from the every-day reality of most Americans, how soldiers oft return home to a kind of soft segregation, how the soldiering class is almost a class unto itself, often unable to mingle comfortably with others, how the army compensates for weak egos and becomes an almost cultic figure for the disenfranchised etc etc. This is an unusually perceptive film. But a frustrating one too, because for every good sequence there's an abomination which makes you want to gouge your eyes out.
7.9/10 – Frustrating.
Like Wyler's film, which was also ironically titled, "The Lucky Ones" centres on three servicemen of different social strata, rank and age. There's Sgt Cheaver (Tim Robbins), who's wrestling with a divorce and financial problems, Pvt Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams), who's struggling to cope with a wounded leg, poverty and isolation, and Sgt Poole (Michael Pena), whose sex organs have been severely damaged by a piece of shrapnel.
There's a lot of good stuff in the film. Burger's direction is gentle, easygoing and relaxed, our trio of characters are both likable and pleasantly low-key, the gang's road trip is immensely fun and the film features a number of fine conversations. Unfortunately "The Lucky Ones" also contains a number of absolutely god-awful scenes which totally kill the picture. Such heavy handed atrocities – scenes which would embarrass most writers - include a sudden marital break-up, an out-of-nowhere argument over a locked car, a ridiculous car crash and a LITERAL TORNADO ATTACK. Half this movie is a masterpiece of low key observation, the other half is an embarrassment. What's going on?
Still, mentally filter out these terrible moments and the film has a lot to recommend. Burger positions us to sympathise with these soldiers, shows how the army exploits minorities and the marginalised, how each of these characters has absolutely no place to go, no one to take them in but the Armed Forces, how the military engenders dependency, how enlistees treat income and institutional connection as a bigger priority than the larger ethical and political ramifications of War, how the Army neuters ideological conflict (within its staff), how civilians (on either end of the political spectrum) condescendingly treat soldiers, how the military experience is completely divorced from the every-day reality of most Americans, how soldiers oft return home to a kind of soft segregation, how the soldiering class is almost a class unto itself, often unable to mingle comfortably with others, how the army compensates for weak egos and becomes an almost cultic figure for the disenfranchised etc etc. This is an unusually perceptive film. But a frustrating one too, because for every good sequence there's an abomination which makes you want to gouge your eyes out.
7.9/10 – Frustrating.