The Lucky One (dir. Scott Hicks)

Nicholas Sparks has done it again! Another film adaptation of one of his novels, soon to hit a big screen near you. Perhaps it's because Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams worked together so well in the Notebook and that just gives me high expectations, but I tend to find that most of Sparks' movie adaptations there after are bland and seem to lack a plot such as The Lucky One, unfortunately.
I feel a little bit ashamed of Scott Hicks I must say. From coming from such a wonderful film such as Shine, it's a disappointment that he's directed such a lackbuster film. There are moments where the cinematography is outstanding, particularly in the sequence where the brooding protagonist, Logan, decides to walk from Colorado to Louisiana (because that's believable...). From these shots we can see why Shine was such an outstanding film, but unfortuneatly they don't do much for this film especially since the target audience is probably a bunch of teenage girls (hello, casting of Zac Efron).
That brings me to my next point; acting. Perhaps it's because I, myself, am a teenage girl but I don't find 'Zefron' to be a bad actor. I do believe he had been type cast and that he is marketed to teenage girls. I think he is an actor who just needs to the right role to shine. He has potential and he does try to illustrate this through this film but unfortunately the character is quite badly written, made to make teenage girls swoon at the site of him. As for Taylor Schilling as the female lead... Just underwhelming. A so-so performance from a so-so actress. Her performance was so underwhelming to me, I don't remember that character's name despite only seeing it yesterday.
All in all, the plot was pretty bad as well. I am baffled as to why Logan didn't reveal the picture of (insert her name here, I don't remember) to her straight away. Her reaction was so over the top as well, and it was just such an anti-climatic film and so predictable.
All in all, lack of plot, bad script, "meh" acting... Maybe I should give it an extra star just for all the gratuitous shots of Zac Efron's muscles...

2/5

-Cassie

Watch if you liked: the Notebook; The Vow; Dear John; A Walk To Remember; The Last Song