THE LUCKY ONES (2008), dir. Neil Burger
It’s been six years since the Iraq War began, and during that time, cinema has explored it from the perspective of soldiers on the ground (“Redacted”) as well as back home (“Stop-Loss”). Now here comes “The Lucky Ones,” a road movie about a trio of soldiers on leave from combat. As the title indicates, they’ve been fortunate enough to survive this long, but as writers Neil Burger and Dirk Wittenborn point out, that doesn’t mean they aren’t the walking wounded physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
Audiences won’t find a paraplegic Jon Voight shuffling around on a hospital gurney, but all three main characters – Army soldiers on 30-day leave from Iraq – are having to cope with some part of their life or identity lost. For an ambitious lieutenant named T. K. (Michael Peña), it’s the function of his private parts; for Private Colee (Rachel McAdams), it’s a close friend whom the movie insinuates may have been her lover.
Meanwhile, the older Cheever (Tim Robbins) starts off as the most level-headed of the three, looking forward to returning to his suburban St. Louis life after a two-year tour of duty. But after agreeing to give his fellow soldiers a lift when JFK Airport is grounded by a blackout, Cheever’s happy homecoming turns out far from that: in rapid succession, his wife requests a divorce; his son needs $20,000 to attend Stanford; and the factory where he used to be employed has just gone under.
Luckily, the military sticks together. Floundering Cheever has a brother in Salt Lake City he can visit, and as it happens, both T. K. and Colee are heading westward to Las Vegas, anyway: the former to see a sexual “professional” as a last-ditch effort to cure his impotence; the latter to return her dead beau’s guitar to his family, which strangely enough, doesn’t know she’s on the way.
The road trip part of “The Lucky Ones” could have been tired, fish-out-of-water stuff, as the characters drive their rented van through states where everyone talks in southern drawls. However, the filmmakers go in the opposite direction: rather than treat them like strangers, many of the people encountered go out of their way to be hospitable to servicemen, be it inviting them to a fancy garden party, providing them the last rental vehicle, or as T. K. discovers at one point, offering him free sexual services.
In the face of these situations, which are dramatic, humorous, but never quite hysterical, all three leads do credible work, especially McAdams, who conveys unspoken loneliness beneath her unbridled enthusiasm. Peña, on the other hand, manages to keep a straight face through repeated digs at his precious manhood, the most subtly-funny one involving a car crash where he’s nearly impaled on an erect pipe.
All in all, the movie has its heart in the right place, fully supporting the average fighting man despite its opinions about the war itself. There’s also a not-too-subtle message the military is one big family capable of giving us back what we’ve lost. Now if only the screenplay weren’t occasionally spotty: through the characters on the periphery, Burger and Wittenborn run the gamut of attitudes about the Iraq War and those fighting it, some being supportive, others indifferent.
Unfortunately, the characterizations are also a bit shrill at times. In one instance, Cheever encounters a war-hawk who bites his head off after he says they’re “just trying to survive” in Iraq. “With an attitude like that…,” the hawk starts off, implying the soldiers abroad suffer from a loser mentality.
There’s another scene involving a barroom brawl instigated by McAdams’ otherwise good girl, where it’s a little too easy siding with her, given the obnoxious teenie-boppers who push her too far could qualify for Worst Human Beings Ever status. Bad enough they look down on her serving in the military instead of attending prestigious Indiana University (yeah, that’s sarcasm); one of them mimics Colee’s limp behind her back. Clearly, this stuck-up bitch is not supposed to be an example of observed human behavior, but rather, a punching bag we’ll take satisfaction in seeing worked, especially if our brave fighting men and women are doing the working.
Overall grade: *** (out of ****)
SITE ARCHIVE! (REGULARLY UPDATED)
Audiences won’t find a paraplegic Jon Voight shuffling around on a hospital gurney, but all three main characters – Army soldiers on 30-day leave from Iraq – are having to cope with some part of their life or identity lost. For an ambitious lieutenant named T. K. (Michael Peña), it’s the function of his private parts; for Private Colee (Rachel McAdams), it’s a close friend whom the movie insinuates may have been her lover.
Meanwhile, the older Cheever (Tim Robbins) starts off as the most level-headed of the three, looking forward to returning to his suburban St. Louis life after a two-year tour of duty. But after agreeing to give his fellow soldiers a lift when JFK Airport is grounded by a blackout, Cheever’s happy homecoming turns out far from that: in rapid succession, his wife requests a divorce; his son needs $20,000 to attend Stanford; and the factory where he used to be employed has just gone under.
Luckily, the military sticks together. Floundering Cheever has a brother in Salt Lake City he can visit, and as it happens, both T. K. and Colee are heading westward to Las Vegas, anyway: the former to see a sexual “professional” as a last-ditch effort to cure his impotence; the latter to return her dead beau’s guitar to his family, which strangely enough, doesn’t know she’s on the way.
The road trip part of “The Lucky Ones” could have been tired, fish-out-of-water stuff, as the characters drive their rented van through states where everyone talks in southern drawls. However, the filmmakers go in the opposite direction: rather than treat them like strangers, many of the people encountered go out of their way to be hospitable to servicemen, be it inviting them to a fancy garden party, providing them the last rental vehicle, or as T. K. discovers at one point, offering him free sexual services.
In the face of these situations, which are dramatic, humorous, but never quite hysterical, all three leads do credible work, especially McAdams, who conveys unspoken loneliness beneath her unbridled enthusiasm. Peña, on the other hand, manages to keep a straight face through repeated digs at his precious manhood, the most subtly-funny one involving a car crash where he’s nearly impaled on an erect pipe.
All in all, the movie has its heart in the right place, fully supporting the average fighting man despite its opinions about the war itself. There’s also a not-too-subtle message the military is one big family capable of giving us back what we’ve lost. Now if only the screenplay weren’t occasionally spotty: through the characters on the periphery, Burger and Wittenborn run the gamut of attitudes about the Iraq War and those fighting it, some being supportive, others indifferent.
Unfortunately, the characterizations are also a bit shrill at times. In one instance, Cheever encounters a war-hawk who bites his head off after he says they’re “just trying to survive” in Iraq. “With an attitude like that…,” the hawk starts off, implying the soldiers abroad suffer from a loser mentality.
There’s another scene involving a barroom brawl instigated by McAdams’ otherwise good girl, where it’s a little too easy siding with her, given the obnoxious teenie-boppers who push her too far could qualify for Worst Human Beings Ever status. Bad enough they look down on her serving in the military instead of attending prestigious Indiana University (yeah, that’s sarcasm); one of them mimics Colee’s limp behind her back. Clearly, this stuck-up bitch is not supposed to be an example of observed human behavior, but rather, a punching bag we’ll take satisfaction in seeing worked, especially if our brave fighting men and women are doing the working.
Overall grade: *** (out of ****)
SITE ARCHIVE! (REGULARLY UPDATED)
Labels: ***, 00's, Michael Pena, Neil Burger, Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins
posted by Phil | 4:56 AM
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