Good Luck Chuck (2007)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Mark Helfrich

Writers (WGA):

Josh Stolberg (screenplay)
Steve Glenn (short story)

Release Date:

21 September 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

There's something about Jessica.

Plot:

In order to keep the woman of his dreams from falling for another guy, Charlie Logan has to break the curse that has made him wildly popular with single women: Sleep with Charlie once, and the next man you meet will be your true love. |

Plot Keywords:

True Love | Curse | Teenage Girl In Underwear | Sex In Car | Sex In Kitchen

Awards:

3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 18	11:00 PM	SHOW
Wed. July 22	12:00 AM	SHOW

Cast

Connor Price	...	Young Charlie
Troy Gentile	...	Young Stu
Mackenzie Mowat	...	Birthday Girl
Sasha Pieterse	...	Goth Girl
Caroline Ford	...	Jennifer
Dane Cook	...	Charlie
Chelan Simmons	...	Carol
Dan Fogler	...	Stu
Natalie Morris	...	Natalie
Ellia English	...	Reba
Chang Tseng	...	Karaoke Singer
Michael Teigen	...	Wedding D.J.
Chiara Zanni	...	Bride
Benjamin Ayres	...	Groomsman (as Ben Ayres)
Carrie Fleming	...	Dirty Talker (as Carrie Anne Fleming)

Also Known As:

Le porte-bonheur (Canada: French title)
The Warm-Up Guy (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sequences of strong sexual content including crude dialogue, nudity, language and some drug use.

Runtime:

USA:96 min | USA:101 min (unrated version) | Argentina:101 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:18 | USA:R | Ireland:16 | Singapore:R21 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Taiwan:R-18 | Germany:16 | France:Unrated (with warning) | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:7 | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Brazil:18 | Japan:R-15 | Peru:18 | Norway:15 (re-rating after appeal) | Argentina:13 | Italy:VM18 | Iceland:14

Filming Locations:

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Karz Entertainment

Trivia:

Jennifer Love Hewitt was offered the role of "Cam Wexler", but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts. The role then went to Jessica Alba.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: All the cars have Washington License plates indicating they are in the US. Charlie's apartment thermostat reads in degrees Celsius. The U.S. uses the Fahrenheit scale.

Quotes:

Young Charlie: What's a blowjob?
Young Stu: I have no idea. But I overheard my dad saying that he gets one once a year on his birthday, so it must be good.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-09-22)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Lucky Man

Great movie if you are open minded and not afraid of a little sex

This movie marks, bar none, the greatest departure I have ever come across between the response from both professional and IMDb critics and my own personal opinion. This striking dichotomy has prompted me to post my first ever IMDb review. Literally every professional critic I could find gave this movie a terrible review, which I can only attribute to closed mindedness and a lack of imagination. Apparently every movie must fit neatly into a certain genre, and cannot deviate from standard and infinitely repeated tropes. This movie was supposed to be a "romantic comedy", a genre which I generally do not care for, as they tend to be sappy, depressing, and just generally boring. Nonetheless, virtually all reviewers seem to decry that this movie refused to take out all the "smut" and revert itself into another in a line of bland and lifeless romantic comedies. An oft repeated line I found in reviews was that "this movie is much closer to Caligula than Sleepless in Seattle". I personally cannot think of any higher praise for a movie.

Other IMDb reviewers stated that the only people who would like this movie are college frat boys who want to see "boobies". Well, I can tell you that I and my girlfriend both have postgraduate degrees, and both of us loved it. The movie is funny, cute, sexy, fast paced, and never takes itself too seriously. All of the characters are good-natured and fun, and display realistic responses and a great deal of humanity in reacting to an unusual and very funny situation. Dane Cook's character is a good person, in a realistic (non-Hollywood) sort of way. He tries to help people, but certainly doesn't turn down sex with attractive women when it is, quite literally, thrown at him. When he meets the "love of his life", he ignores all of her (quite significant) flaws and pursues her vigorously. Jessica Alba's character is sweet, funny, and believable in the progression of her relationship with Cook. She is refreshingly understanding and non-jealous about Cook's rather unusual malady. Troy Gentile's character is criticized on these boards for being misogynistic, but is certainly no more so than Jason Alexander's character in "Shallow Hal". Gentile is often extremely funny, generally well intentioned, and a good friend to Cook.

Many have commented that this movie is crude and disgusting. I honestly do not see this at all. The humor is significantly less low-brow than, say, "Superbad", with all of its crude penis jokes (and drawings). Yes, there is nudity and sex, but I don't see why this should make a movie disgusting. I also found it refreshing that the main two characters in this movie were a dentist and a doctor, both educated, successful, and well spoken. In just about all of the recent comedies I can think of, the main characters are reject losers that the audience can enjoy laughing at, rather than laughing with. In Good Luck Chuck, we don't feel especially sorry for any of the characters, but we empathize with and relate to them, and can laugh at their antics and escapades in a good natured and fun way.

Do yourself a favor and ignore the critics. Go see this movie!