Huck is a professional gambler who lives in Las Vegas. He is the son of a famous gambler, L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall), who has won multiple poker tournaments. They share a passion for the game of Texas Hold ’Em, but they do not share a fondness for each other, with L.C. constantly proving his dominance over his son. Huck happens to meet sweet innocent Billie Offer (Barrymore), at the casino and takes an interest in her. She has just moved to Vegas to live with her sister, and is impressionable which Huck turns to his advantage. Huck needs enough money to enter the yearly televised Texas Hold ‘Em tournament and with time running out, luck does not seem to be on his side.
If you do not already know how to play Texas Hold ‘Em, the movie does not give you the opportunity to learn it early on. Instead, it isn’t until the second half of the movie that a novice would really have a workable knowledge of the game, which is too bad because of the numerous card games early in the film. There is a ring that exchanges hands so many times, that you wonder who had the ring last and how did they get it - with some blatant errors made in the editing room. While Bana begins the film playing Huck as charming and intelligent, the rest of the movie proves to the audience that he is a loser at cards and life because he makes stupid decisions and will do anything to get money to gamble with. This is not a promising male lead for a romantic comedy.
To make matters worse, Barrymore’s Billie is a shell of a person, never coming together as a fully developed character. With little back story, except that she is a singer and is staying with her sister, Billie is simply a pawn for Huck to use in whatever way he sees fit. While the audience may be hopeful that something magical will happen between these two, no time is given to this storyline before we’re rushed back into the casino. In what seems like only a matter of days, there is supposed to be some sort of relationship between Huck and Billie that justifies Billie sticking around when Huck shows his true colors. The romance felt overly contrived and forced and never really works in the context of the story except to give Huck something to do outside his gambling.
The Las Vegas of “Lucky You” is not the glitzy and glamorous city of lights that audiences remember from Clooney’s “Ocean’s series”, but instead a place for freaks and gambling addicts, where the sun never rises and time loses all meaning. Even Duvall comes across as one-dimensional in a mean-spirited character that will make you nervous every time you see him on screen. Don’t test your luck on this movie - the payoff isn’t worth it.
Rated PG-13 for some language and sexual humor.
