The Lucky One

  • Review Date: April 20, 2012
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Romance
  • 2012
 Review

Common Sense Media says

Sweet but formulaic love story OK for teen romantics.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that, like other romances based on Nicholas Sparks novels -- including The Last Song, Dear John, and The Notebook -- The Lucky One is filled with swoony, sentimental moments involving a pair of star-crossed lovers kept apart by their life challenges and personal struggles. Expect some gauzy love scenes (mostly kissing and early stage undressing -- no private parts are seen, though the top of a male backside is visible); infrequent swearing ("s--t," etc.), some drinking by adults, some tense scenes of peril and confrontation, and jarring-but-not-graphic wartime scenes in which grenades explode and soldiers are shot dead. Although the movie means well overall, it does suggest that women need the love of a good man to be able to love themselves.

  • The Lucky One promotes the ideas that struggles don't have to define you and that you must learn to stand up for yourself. Also, that love heals,  that family bonds are very powerful, and that loyalty matters. But it also perpetuates the notion that women, no matter how capable, need the love of a good man to be able to love themselves.
  • Almost all of the characters, even the one obviously pitched as the "bad guy," have a soft side. Logan is kind, earnest, and principled, and -- despite some nightmares and sadness -- appears generally intact after the war. Beth is a caring mother and daughter. Together, they're a beacon of niceness.
  • Gunfight in the middle of a war, with some soldiers shot dead. Innocent bystanders also die. Explosions in war zones. The war scenes in general feel menacing. An abusive man stalks his ex-wife and threatens her when she doesn't give into his demands. Later, he gets into a fight with another man and brandishes a gun at him. A harrowing scene shows people about to fall into a raging river during a storm.
  • Couples kiss passionately in the shower and in a bedroom while they remove each other's clothing (shot in close-ups that don't show private parts); sex is implied on more than one occasion. One scene depicts the woman with her hand down the back of a man's pants, with the upper part of his backside showing.
  • Relatively infrequent use of words including "s--t," "damn," "hell," and "ass."
  • An iPod is seen, as is a Mitsubishi car.
  • Adults drink on dates and at social functions. The movie's bad guy gets drunk and starts a fight with another man. Beth gets a little tipsy during a date.

What's the story?

Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) returns from his third tour of duty shell-shocked, having survived not one but a handful of close calls. The biggest one was a face-off with the enemy that left many dead. But somehow, Logan was spared when he stopped to pick up a picture on the ground -- the good-luck charm of an unknown soldier. The photo is that of a beautiful woman, whose soothing face Logan thinks somehow protects him from harm. When he goes home, Logan makes it his mission to find the woman, Beth (Taylor Schilling). While winning her heart isn't hard, keeping it is.


Is it any good?

 

As Nicholas Sparks romances go, THE LUCKY ONE is one of the better ones -- quite a feat, considering it doesn't star Ryan Gosling. Efron and Schilling share an easy chemistry, which is key, of course. But as a romantic story on its own, The Lucky One doesn't hold a candle to the classics of the genre -- The English Patient if we're to get lofty, or even An Officer and a Gentleman.

Those movies boast a complexity that evokes the complications of life on two battlefield fronts: love and war. The Lucky One isn't so lucky (or, rather, well crafted). It's bogged down by hokey dialogue and stilted acting. Efron, who actually has shown some talent, appears to think "wooden" passes for "mysterious" here. Only Blythe Danner, as Beth's grandmother, is unscathed. She's witty and breezy and soulful in all the right moments, and we're lucky for that.


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What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about why romantic movies often seem to have female characters who can't seem to find their strength and center without first falling in love. What's the message here?

  • How does The Lucky One depict romance and relationships? Do you think it's realistic/accurate?

  • What is the movie saying about the toll that war takes on soldiers?


This review was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo
Kid, 10 years old
April 21, 2012
 
Lucky One
I loved it it was so good.They did make out but no private things were shown

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Adult
April 21, 2012
 
Sex Galore.
It was a good movie athough not the best. I read the book first and the differences made me like the movie less. That being said it was a good movie but the sex scenes were rampant. There were three INTENSE sexual scenes between the two main characters. There was no nudity other than seeing the top of Zac Efron's butt slightly. The sex scenes were worse than The Notebook's which is odd because The Lucky One book had very little sex in it.

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Teen, 16 years old
April 21, 2012
 
Zac Efron transforms into an okay adult.
I read this book when I was 15. I know I am mature enough and I hope I can watch it. It was a great and romantic read. Logan Thibault just wanted to find his place in the world with his dog, haha. I hope Zac Efron plays out the role well. I am 16 now. If you have a teenager, let them watch it if they are 14 and over. And make sure they know what sex is and blah blah. I'm fine, I'm not pregnant young, so there are actually mature teenagers. Teach your kids right, and give them the opportunity to experience life and feelings.

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Educator and Parent of 6 and 11 year old
April 21, 2012
 
Dumb, dumberer, and dumbererest
This has a plot as predictable as the verse in a Hallmark card....If you must know the plot follows a guy who falls in love with a girl's picture and stalks her until he finds her, im not kidding... and like you know they fall in love...blah blach bleck! This amount of sheer stupidity should not bee seen by anyone who is still developing, this is why it is off for all chidren

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Teen, 16 years old
April 22, 2012
 
Worthwhile for those who want to see it. :)
(3.5) I enjoyed it. There's nothing like a Nicholas Sparks story sometimes. I do have something to say about CommonSense's review. It said that, "Although the movie means well overall, it does suggest that women need the love of a good man to be able to love themselves." I really didn't see this at all. I saw a woman who had been through an overwhelmingly tragic event and was helped in the healing process by the man in her life. But it's just one of those things where everyone will see it a little differently.

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Adult
April 22, 2012
 
14 and up.
The Lucky One is a great romance movie about love and family bond stars with zac efron from high school musical but parents this movie The Lucky One has some intense war violence in the beginning of the film and there are some sex scenes shown but no nudity shown also some mild language used and a little bit of drinking the message in this movie is about that the ideas that struggles don't have to define you and that you must learn to stand up for yourself. Also, that love heals, that family bonds are very powerful, and that loyalty matters But it also perpetuates the notion that women, no matter how capable, need the love of a good man to be able to love themselves and the role models are that Logan is kind, earnest, and principled, and despite some nightmares and sadness appears generally intact after the war. Beth is a caring mother and daughter Together, they're a beacon of niceness.

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Teen, 13 years old
April 21, 2012
 
the lucky one:)
i thought this was an amazing movie. i'm 13 and read the book and just went to see the movie yesterday with my friends and i think both are perfectly fine for 13 and up. the movie is a little sexual, but nothing was shown. there was some cursing, but not a too much. there was also little violence, the war zone scenes are brief. overall a great movie and must see:)

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Teen, 14 years old
April 21, 2012
 
Efron leaves High School for a more adult-aimed romance
A lot of people have had to fight in the war. Many of them have died. And this is about a person who was lucky enough to survive. He finds a picture of a girl and the picture had some luck so he goes out to find this girl to thank her. There is a lot of ways to find people these days, many on the internet, which has made contacting people very easy. Like it was for Logan (Zac Efron). He somehow finds out where out of millions of people this girl lived. But when people find out how much people can find other people, it can become a little creepy at points. Beth (Taylor Schilling) finds Logan a little bit creepy. But reality is that finding others is a lot easier than you may think. Some scenes of people in underwear and some violence.

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Parent
April 26, 2012
 
The Unlucky One-- NOT FOR KIDS
I saw this on the night it opened and was SHOCKED to see so many 9-12 year olds with their parents. This movie was completely inappropriate for tweens and even questionable for anyone under 16. The fact that there were fits of giggles every time a sex scene (granted... nothing was shown, but you didn't have to have much of an imagination to know what was happening) came on, tells you that kids are not meant to see this movie. It's for adults and SHOULD be rated R in my opinion. If I had a teen/tween daughter and she wanted to go see this with her girlfriends (as many were there in clusters... I'm assuming they were dropped off), I would NOT let her see this.

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Parent
May 1, 2012
 
Kind of intense for my daughter
I took my 11 year old to see this. She wanted to see it badly and I remember seeing movies of this type at her age. I grew up with Dirty Dancing and Pretty Women. We found the sex scenes to be a little to much. My daughter closed her eyes and looked away. It made her uncomfortable. As an adult, I wasn't thrilled with wrapping of legs around the man, grabbing of a butt, and some other stuff that could have been left to the imagination. As far as the violence goes, the beginning was war scenes but not really graphic. What really upset my daughter was at the almost end of the movie there was a very intense scene during a thunderstorm, where the viewer wasn't sure if someone was going to get harmed. This scene really scared my daughter.

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This review was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo
Topics:book characters
Studio:Warner Bros.
Director:Scott Hicks
Cast:Blythe Danner, Taylor Schilling, Zac Efron
Genre:Romance
Run time:101 minutes
Theatrical release date:April 20, 2012
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:some sexuality and violence

This review was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

 

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