"Just My Luck" Review

    Lindsay Lohan has fallen on hard times. She has been in and out of rehab (and jail) several times, her SNL appearance was a flop and she hasn't done any major film roles in a long time. With her seemingly constant failings at a comeback, it's hard to remember that at one point she was Hollywood's "It Girl". She was the star of several big hits at the time, like Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. However, her attempt to get out of big teen Disney movies faltered. So, why exactly did 2006's Just My Luck slip-up? Let's find out.

    Just My Luck follows Ashley (Lohan), an incredibly lucky New Yorker who after a chance encounter with the perpetually unlucky Jake (Chris Pine), she learns the kiss she shared with him swapped their luck, messing up her life and making Jake's attempt to get music exec Phillips (Faizon Love) to sign the band McFly (Who provides the music for the film) successful.
    Just My Luck's biggest problem is simply in it's premise. The premise is so flawed, that it falls apart on several different levels. First off, the fact that the writers expect us to enjoy watching a woman get everything she wants just because she's "lucky" doesn't fly. As one might imagine, seeing someone else's life be perfect with very little in the way of bad things happening is not fun. Still, the film tries to play off the fact that Lohan's perfect life "isn't all it seems to be", which is of course, complete BS, as nothing we are ever shown indicates that she's "missing out" on life. Lohan does however, do a surprisingly nice job with what she's givien, driving home how big a star she could have been, because in the end, what she's given is not much at all.

It started out with a kiss...

    And the film hammers home the unlikablility of Lohan's character by showing us the much more relatable character Jake. Pine's performance as Jake is perhaps the film's only saving grace, as it is very likable, with him being a honestly nice guy. He actually seems like his bad luck made him a good person and whenever he's on screen, he steals the show. In fact, this actually serves against the movie, as the whole point is to see Lohan get her luck back. However, Pine does so much nicer things with his luck and acted so much better with the bad luck (Lohan at one point ruins a marriage just to get her luck back), that you actually root against the film's main character.
    The luck itself also never really works quite right. The "good luck" includes impossible things, like rain instantly stopping when Lohan walks outside. The "bad luck" more often than not is just the characters acting inhumanly stupid in normal situations. Take for example, a scene in which Lohan blows the power of an entire street after she throws a flaming hairdryer into a bathtub filled with water. That's not bad luck. That's just stupid. Also, Pine's character never gets the full good luck Lohan's character seems to get. Sure, Pine gets a great job, signs his band with Phillips and sells out a concert, but that could just be attributed to him just doing his job well. He never wins the amount of contests Lohan does or find money just lying on the ground. The rules of the swap just never seem clearly defined.

Her friends are also way too OK with how much her
 "good luck" screws them over

    Just My Luck was one of Lindsay Lohan's last films before her life hit the skids and it is not a good way to good out. Her character is so unlikable and annoying to watch that it's actually more likely to root against her then for her. The premise is deeply flawed and the "good luck, bad luck" idea is severely broken. The film's only real bright spot is it's cast. Chris Pine steals the show often and should have been the main character. But, perhaps the worst part of the movie is seeing the real potential in Lindsay Lohan. She's actually pretty good and to have that talent wasted is a shame. Just My Luck gets 1.5 stars out of 6.