Screen Scene: "Just My Luck"

Directed by Donald Petrie 20th Century Fox

“Just My Luck” features footage of Lindsay Lohan
partying, making out with hotties, wearing designer dresses, and
looking trashed the next morning. But this isn’t an extended
“E! True Hollywood Story” ““ it’s actually
an entire movie about the fabulous life of Ashley Albright, a
fictional character played by Lohan.

Ashley works an entry-level job at some sort of important New
York City company, with a salary that buys her a walk-in shoe
closet with a spacious apartment attached, a cool twisty phone and
trendy pastries for breakfast. Her life is the PG version of
“Sex and the City,” a young teen’s fantasy:
talking to cute boys in the elevator, giggling at work with the
BFFs, and choosing between parties without fear of failure, money
or safety. She is independent, in charge and ““ hold on, I
simply must take this call.

The one explanation for her uncommonly great life is pure luck.
Winning the lottery, missing traffic, and stopping the rain are all
in a day for Ashley. But her good fortune is balanced in the
universe by the perpetual bad luck of Jake Hardin, played by Chris
Pine. Jake is unfortunately prone to step in puddles, inadvertently
pick up dog poop, and dress like a hobo.

They meet at the most glamorous party ever ““ Ashley
planned it. Jake does a perfect double take when he spies her
descending a staircase; it’s the rare film that shows a woman
walking down stairs without also showing a love-struck man waiting
for her below, and this film is not one to shy away from
clichés. Ashley even stops a few steps from the bottom so as
to remain on higher ground and make everything she says a little
more condescending and witty. And with luck still on Ashley’s
side, Jake asks her to dance.

When Ashley and Jake kiss, their fortunes switch. If Ashley ever
wants to get her luck back, she must find him and kiss him again.
The only problem is that the party was a masquerade, and they
didn’t swap digits.

It is difficult to place the ages of the characters, because
they are living fantasy lives. Ashley looks college-aged ““
she could try for 21, but she’d get carded ““ yet the
only reference to her education is that she was prom queen. It is
hard to believe that such a lifestyle can be achieved without
midterms or tuition, though such inexplicable gaps in the script
provide something to think about during the slow, predictable
parts.

The acting in “Just My Luck” is hardly acting: Lohan
plays a sweeter version of herself, and it’s hard to imagine
Pine as anything but a romantic lead ““ he’s too pretty
to be a serious actor. Pine’s character is the ideal hero for
the movie’s young teen fantasy world, where good looks hide
only good intentions. He is a determined ““ yet
non-threatening ““ seducer, allowing the girl to be as silly
as she wants because he loves her anyway. Life is so simple:
Isn’t that fabulous?

The adventures of Ashley and Jack are not realistic or
believable, but they are sometimes cute, occasionally funny, and
““ once or twice ““ almost hilarious. Surprises in the
film are rare, but jokes spotted a mile away somehow still get a
chuckle when they eventually hit Ashley in the face. What is most
charming about “Just My Luck” is that there is no
pretense of meaning or depth to the story. It is romantic comedy.
It stars Lindsay Lohan. You will laugh, you will not cry, and you
will not miss much if you have to step out for a really important
phone call.

E-mail Crocker at acrocker@media.ucla.edu.

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