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"The
'Numbers' Don't Add Up"
by Scott Mantz
"Lucky Numbers"
John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow
Directed by Nora Ephron
Well, it sure
took a while, but it looks like the effects of the dreaded Y2K bug
are finally coming to fruition. Sure, it took a lot of hard work
to make sure that the computers didn't crash at midnight back in
January, but apparently someone forgot to double-check one very
important Hollywood machine--John Travolta's career.
Ever since "Pulp
Fiction" came out in 1994, Travolta's been on one helluva roll,
sometimes making as many as 3 movies a year. They may not all have
hit, but when they did (as was the case with "Get Shorty," "Michael,"
and "Phenomenon") they hit big. But more importantly, it meant that
Travolta--hot on the heels of the umpteenth comeback of his career--was
here to stay. Even last year's less-than-impressive "The General's
Daughter" defied bad reviews to earn more than $100 million at the
box office, probably based on his name alone.
But big names
will only go so far. Back in May, Travolta tested the strength of
his star status by appearing as a dreadlocked alien in the dreadful
"Battlefield Earth," and moviegoers avoided it like the plague.
Film critics everywhere were united in their utter disdain for the
vanity project, which prompted Paramount Pictures to delay the release
of Travolta's next movie until the hostility died down. Well, judging
by the finished product, maybe they should have held off a little
while longer. Instead of hitting the jackpot, Travolta loses his
shirt in "Lucky Numbers," a dark comedy that suffers from lame jokes,
despicable characters, and a shoddy script.
Russ Richards
(John Travolta) is a popular TV weatherman in Harrisburg who wishes
he could change the weather as well as he can predict it. Thanks
to an unseasonable warm front, his snowmobile business is not doing
as well as he had hoped (actually, it's not doing anything at all),
and now he's in over his head with debt. Fortunately, he has an
idea. With the help of Crystal (Lisa Kudrow), the Lotto-ball girl
who he's sleeping with, Russ devises a plan to rig the Pennsylvania
State Lottery. Not only will this solve his problems, but he'll
have plenty of money left over. Of course, things don't go exactly
as planned, and Russ finds himself in an even bigger hole than the
one he just jumped out of.
Watching "Lucky
Numbers," one can't help but recall the Coen brother's "Fargo" or,
to a lesser extent, "A Simple Plan." Like those films, "Lucky" takes
place in a small town (sorry, Harrisburg, but you're no Philadelphia!),
and it is inspired by actual events (in this case, an ill-fated
attempt to rig the lottery in the late '80's). All of the characters
have quirky or unusual traits, and they find themselves in a situation
that's even worse than the one they started out with.
As far as execution
goes, "Lucky Numbers" is about as far from "Fargo" as you're gonna
get. For one thing, none of the characters in "Lucky" have any redeeming
qualities whatsoever. Russ is more pathetic than likable, and this
prevents the audience from giving a hoot about what happens to him.
When he begins his downward spiral, one can't help but get the feeling
of "who cares?" Also, "Fargo" was a serious film with tragi-comic
elements, which made the irony of the actual story that much more
incredible. "Lucky Numbers" goes in another direction and tries
to pump up the comedic elements of the story, but the jokes fall
flat, and as a result, so does the film.
The performers
here are either horribly miscast or they simply walk through their
roles. Travolta does his best to save the film with his overly-comic
turn, but he has zero chemistry with Lisa Kudrow, who merely resembles
her ditzy "Friends" character Phoebe on a bad day. Tim Roth doesn't
have much to do except look cool and give Travolta the bright idea
of rigging the lottery, while Michael Rapaport plays his role with
the type of lame-brain idiocy that he's done a thousand times. And
don't even ask me what Bill Pullman is doing here (and, come to
think of it, don't ask him either).
Many filmmakers
try to do something different from their normal routine, but only
a few, like "Nurse Betty's" Neil LaBute, actually succeed. Director
Nora Ephron makes a whole-hearted attempt to branch off from the
overly-commercial, neatly packaged, Meg Ryan-type of feel good movies
that she's best known for (like "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've
Got Mail"), but the film doesn't come together. "Lucky Numbers"
may be shooting for a comedy of errors, but in this case, the numbers
just don't add up.
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