SPOTLIGHT Saturday-Sunday, April 21-22, 2012 | Editor: Eli Pace | 270-887-3235 |
[email protected] AT THE MOVIES n Efron is all grown up in ‘The Lucky One’ BY CHRISTY LEMIRE and the piano. He studied philos- AP MOVIE CRITIC ophy. He can haul heavy bags of dog food and fix a tractor. He’s “The Lucky One” is yet an- unfailingly polite to everyone he other adaptation of a Nicholas meets. Oh, and he happens to Sparks novel, so you know ex- look like Zac Efron. actly what you’re getting walk- Schilling is just as attractive ing into this thing. It’s with her slightly tomboyish, predictable and schmaltzy and wholesome femininity, and she sappy and smothered with looks eerily like Danner, who voiceover that explains the film’s adds both zest and dignity as already none-too-subtle themes Beth’s spitfire of a grandmother. of destiny and fate and second And so they are a lovely couple, chances. which is what you want when And yet ... and yet. you want the escape. They have In the hands of “Shine” direc- some glimmers of chemistry and tor Scott Hicks, it does what it not much more. needs to do to please its target au- But! There is an obstacle keep- dience with a certain tasteful art- ing them apart. Besides the fulness and the comforting pesky duplicitousness of familiarity of a 1950s melo- Logan’s’ real purpose at the ken- drama. It’s utterly forgettable nel, there’s Beth’s cartoonishly and offers zero surprises but it’s hostile ex-husband, Keith (Jay R.