Lucky You

Lucky You is set in the dimly remembered golden days of 2003, when men were men and the noble art of pre-cable-TV poker was in the first winter of its passing. Bana stars as Huck, maverick gambler and purveyor of poker metaphors, with a big Oedipal chip on his shoulder about his dad's (Duvall) dubious parenting techniques and a yen to enter the World Series of Poker. Happily for our hero, luck is a lady tonight, in the perky form of Barrymore, a whiny, cutesy philosopher with a nice line in banal aphorisms and the gaming acumen of a teaspoon. Here's one of sage Drew's thoughts for the day: "Maybe giving and receiving are more important than winning and losing." "Goshdarnit Drew," Huck should have said at this point, "You're right! Let's round up nine other guys, stage a dramatic heist and then give everything to Peruvian orphans!" But no, we're not watching Ocean's Umpteen, we've got some serious dullness to wade through before the movie shudders towards the awful inevitability of its moralising conclusion. The depiction of Las Vegas is nicely devoid of glamour, populated by gullible, overweight mid-Westerners, sans tuxedos, sans martinis, sans everything. But a televised account of the Sudoku World Series would generate more tension, and you'll spend most of the time wondering what the Huck has happened to Curtis Hanson since Wonder Boys. [Laura Smith]