Synopsis
This is the second film starring Lindsay Lohan that I’ve reviewed for Upcomingdiscs, the first being Herbie: Fully Loaded. So I guess you could call me a LoFAN, get it? But in doing an IMDB scan for the credits on Just My Luck, I’ve found that one of the producers is Bruce Willis. Yes, Bruce Willis from Die Hard. So I guess the bigger question is why didn’t Bruce appear in this film? Surely he could have made it a little more entertaining for me to watch.
Written by a…group of folks (five I think) and directed by Donald Petrie (Miss Congeniality), Lohan plays Ashley, a New York Public Relations assistant that lives in a world where she’s just naturally lucky, like a knack for winning lottery scratch-off tickets. Her best friends are Maggie (Samaire Armstrong, Stay Alive), who’s known her since the early days, and Dana (Bree Turner, Sorority Boys), who works with her at the PR firm. They work for Peggy Braden (Missi Pyle, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and when Peggy gets stuck in an elevator, Ashley does a PR pitch in a pinch for a music executive named Damon Phillips (Faizon Love, Made) for a musical event. Where’s the bad luck you ask? Well, Jake (Chris Pine, Princess Diaries 2) is a guy who has a little sister and he works in a bowling alley, trying to help a band get big. The band’s name is McFly and they’re apparently a real life band. So by getting these four kids together (who look like products of an unnatural, unholy Hanson and Silverchair relationship of some sort) in a movie, maybe it would get them some press.
So at the event, Ashley encounters an anonymous Jake and kisses him, and suddenly both their fortunes change. So for the rest of the hour and 43 minutes, Jake enjoys the fruits of his successful hard work, while Ashley gets to learn how to use a floor buffer. I suppose that at the end of the day, I shouldn’t really complain that much, because the film is actually a little bit better than Lohan’s Herbie epic remake, and there was enough stuff going on for me to watch the whole thing, but if this is what kids are watching nowadays, I need to order them 50cc’s of Kurosawa, stat.
Audio
Dolby Digital 5.1 for you, good reader. The sound is pretty good, with a lot more environmental sounds than I was expecting, and the music from the band as they play the same two songs over and over again sounds clear and without issue.
Video
1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen goodness, and the film looks good, with no real problems to speak of. Sure, the film is barely six months old, so if it looked good during production, it looks good here. There’s a full screen version on the flipper portion of the disc in case you feel adventurous.
Special Features
You won’t see Lohan here, presumably because she was out smoking or drinking with Harry Morton. Either way, without her participation, the extras are quick, scarce and shallow. A featurette on “the hot band McFly” is the longest piece on the disc (at 8 minutes), followed by a 3 minute look at the costume design, and three deleted scenes. That be it, and they’re spread out over both sides of the disc, presumably to give the buyer the impression of a full-bodied disc. This is one potential double-dip for those who like to drive nails into their head, that’s for sure.
Closing Thoughts
Just My Luck was kind of like my recent dentist appointment. It was quick and relatively painless. Though I got the benefit of novocaine at the dentist. Still, it’s a little better Lohan movie than I’m used to seeing, but she’s still got a long way to prove that she’s got anything more than a nice smile and a good front end alignment. A definite recommended rental for any pre-teens you know and care about.
Special Features List
- Deleted Scenes
- Making of Featurettes
