Review: Good Luck Chuck (Grade: C+)

Sometimes I go to a movie without knowing anything about it AT ALL and so I go in with no expectations just wanting to be entertained.

"Good Luck Chuck" is the perfect example of that statement. Sure, I knew that it had Jessica Alba AND Dane Cook in it (two of my least favorite actors) but I had no idea what the story was about nor did I ever hear anything about it. Sometimes that's the way to go.

What I saw was pure sophomoric hi-jinks which reminded me of a slicker "Porky's" but you know what? I laughed my ass off. Sure, Dane Cook is irritating most of the time and his attempt at leading man status was way off but I thought this film was pretty funny, in a raunchy sort of way. The problem was (besides Dane Cook) that the director didn't really know what kind of film he should make. Should it be a rom-com or an outright gross fest? Starting out as an editor, first time director Mark Helfrich couldn't seem to decide what kind of movie he wanted to make so he threw all these elements in together. On some level the recipe worked, especially when a luminously dorky Jessica Alba was on screen and when she wasn't? Well, you can probably guess.

The dumb story revolved Charlie (nobody calls him Chuck, weird . . .) getting a curse put on him by some goth girl when he was a kid that never allowed him to find true love. Later on, the curse expands to every girl that he breaks up with (after sex, of course) marries the next guy. So that's the story, moving on . . .

The revelation here is the aforementioned Jessica Alba. While the rest of the English speaking world has been drooling over her for years, I never thought she was that attractive. I also thought she was a lousy actress. I guess all it took was one movie to change my mind about her, much like I did after seeing Gwyneth Paltrow in "Shallow Hal." Who knew Jessica had a gift for comedy? She seemed so natural in her dorkiness it was downright sexy. I can't imagine another modern actress that could have pulled off such clumsiness and still make it endearing and sexy like she did, well except for Scarlett that is. She should definitely play this type of role again, hell it worked for Drew Barrymore didn't it?

As for Dane Cook? Well, he is not leading man material. Enough said. Dan Fogler also stars as a more profane and over-the-top Jack Black type character (if that's even possible) and does so admirably by giving it his all.

I could tell that this movie was directed by an editor as the timing was always perfect without lingering to much. It also featured arguably one of the best montage sequences ever put on celluloid that has to be seen to be believed. I originally thought that this movie would prove to be a smash simply because of Cook's and Alba's rabid fan base but that didn't happen because people that go see R rated comedy flicks have been spoiled by the more sophisticated R rated flicks of the past few years like "40 Year Old Virgin", "The Wedding Crashers", and "Knocked Up." If this movie had come out before them then it surely would have been a success.

To me this movie was a pleasant diversion feeding my need to turn off my brain and see a funny flick. Rent it when it comes out on DVD and enjoy the stupid fun.

Musings Grade: C+

-- Janaki Cedanna