I recently watched a movie where one of the characters talked about how fate and destiny are the same. When you sit down to watch Nicholas Spark’s The Lucky One, fate and destiny would be two words that pop into your mind and stick with you through the entirety of the film.
Those out in the audience think this movie is creepy because the main character could be considered a stalker. As a hopeless romantic at heart, I never thought about the story from that point of view; however, I can see how those people would feel that way.
Zac Efron plays a soldier named Logan. While serving overseas, Logan finds a picture of a beautiful woman; when he picks up the picture, he is distracted from his unit, who then perish in a bombing attack. When Logan returns to the states, to suppress his PTSD, he walks to Louisana to find the girl in the photo.
Through a series of fortunate events, Logan finally finds Beth (Taylor Schilling), and the two begin a tumultuous friendship, which then turns into a budding romance. Of course, living in a small town, there was a lot of drama and push back since her ex-husband is the town sheriff. Despite the best efforts of outside forces, our two main characters fall head over heels and try their best to make it work.
The Lucky One was the seventh Sparks novel to be turned into a movie, yet some of the previous ones did not have great leads like this one. I was a huge fan of this movie because I could feel the chemistry between Logan and Beth. Whether it was their good looks of acting abilities, they gave us a natural and sincere love. By the time this film was released in 2012, it was instantly my second favourite Sparks movie besides The Notebook. That would all change the following year with the release of Safe Haven, but I’m here to talk about The Lucky One.
As mentioned before, this film received a boatload of negative reviews and for a variety of reasons. Most people don’t like these Sparks sappy romance novels/films, and that’s okay. I know a large group of us look past a lot of the flaws in his characters and their stories and show up for love. Some of them seem forced, while others seem more natural. Every movie has flaws, and no character is ever perfect. I thoroughly enjoy The Lucky One because a love that doesn’t make any sense and is forbidden on some levels is worth seeing through until the end. 9/10
Ten Stars or Less 