The Lucky One (film)

Not to be confused with The Lucky Ones (film).

The Lucky One
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Scott Hicks
Screenplay by	Will Fetters
Produced by	Denise Di Novi Kevin McCormick
Starring	Zac Efron Taylor Schilling Jay R. Ferguson Blythe Danner
Cinematography	Alar Kivilo
Edited by	Scott Gray
Music by	Mark Isham
Production companies	Village Roadshow Pictures Di Novi Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	April 20, 2012 (2012-04-20)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$76,904,294

The Lucky One is a 2012 romantic drama film directed by Scott Hicks and released April 2012. It is an adaptation of the 2008 novel of the same name, by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, and Blythe Danner.

Synopsis

Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) is a U.S. Marine, serving his third tour of duty, who survives a night raid where his and another platoon are ambushed, resulting in fatalities. The following morning, he sees something glinting in the sun and walks over to pick it up and sees it is a picture of a woman, with the message "keep safe x" written on the back. At that moment, a mortar attack destroys where he had been sitting before he saw the picture, killing those around him, but leaving him with minor injuries. He then tries to find the owner of the picture, but has no success and he assumes whoever owned the picture is dead. Just before they are to return home, Logan and one of his squad mates are driving along, discussing the picture and Logan declares that the woman in the picture is his "guardian angel", just before their vehicle is hit by a roadside bomb, and, once again, Logan is the sole survivor.

He then returns to Colorado and goes to live with his sister and her family, who have been looking after his German Shepherd, Zeus. Suffering from survivor guilt, he finds it difficult to adjust to life back home, even assaulting one of his nephews when they play a practical joke on him.

He decides it is best all round for him to leave, and he records a message on his sister's laptop explaining his reasons and, together with Zeus, he walks to Louisiana, as a landmark in the picture of the unknown woman pinpoints her location. Once there, he asks around and a local in a bar recognises the woman, but warns Logan that she is married to a friend of his. Logan arrives at where the woman works, a dog kennel, and when he meets Beth Clayton (Taylor Schilling), he can't get his words out about why he is there; she then assumes he wants to apply for a job that they were advertising for, but is wary of him, wondering why he would walk all the way from Colorado to Louisiana to apply for a job helping out in a dog kennel. She then sends her grandmother Ellie Blythe Danner who decides to give him the job, much to Beth's surprise.

At first, Beth seems to be irritated by Logan's presence, but, thanks to the connection Logan makes with her son Ben, she begins to warm to him. He then finds out that Beth had a brother named Drake who was KIA during his second tour in Iraq and that, as the two siblings were close, his death hit her hard, mainly as they were given very little information from the military about his death and Beth wanted to know if her brother had died for nothing.

Logan meets Beth's ex, Sheriff Deputy Keith Clayton, who is the son of the town's judge and mayoral hopeful. He is immediately suspicious and jealous of the newcomer and doesn't hide his disdain for the former soldier. He is ruthless and always wants to win, a trait he is trying to instil in his son, and he discourages Ben from playing the violin around him, something which causes Ben to practise in his tree house by himself, away from the house, so people can't hear when he messes up.

Keith and Beth have a disagreement when he returns Ben to her bloodied from a charity baseball game, and Keith threatens to take full custody of Ben, taking him away from her, something he does to intimidate Beth and make her life miserable.

During a walk with Zeus, Logan overhears Ben playing the violin in the tree house and compliments him on it, and some time later, Ben finds out that Logan is good at playing the piano and the two decide to team up, with Ben now practising in the house. Ben and Logan also share an interest in chess and Logan is happy to watch Ben's magic tricks, which brings them even closer.

On the anniversary of Drake's death, Logan comforts Beth and the two grow closer, with Beth opening up about the life she had with her brother when they were young, before they lost their parents to a car accident. She then takes Logan to the boat her parents owned and reminisced about when they used to ride the boat when they were children, but the boat now stayed in the harbour, as it required repair.

Beth takes Ben over to Keith's and he once again tries to do something about the budding friendship between Beth and Logan, threatening to take Ben from her and, for the first time, she stands up to him, showing that she is not intimidated by him and she leaves happy and begins to pursue a relationship with Logan, much to the happiness of Ellie.

During a performance in the local church, Logan and Ben play a piano and violin duet, and even though Ben makes a couple of minor errors, he now has the confidence to play in public. Outside the church, the local who Logan asked about Beth when he first arrived in town communicates this to Keith, who obtains the photograph of Beth and shows it to her, something which finally drives a wedge between her and Logan and she tells him to leave. As he walks away from the house, Ben comes out and gives him a book on chess, saying he'll need it more. Ellie then tries to talk to her granddaughter, explaining that is isn't Logan's fault that he survived and Drake did not.

After this, following a drinking session in the bar, an intoxicated Keith sees Logan and his dog in the town and angrily confronts him. When Zeus barks, Keith takes out his sidearm and points it at the dog; Logan easily disarms him and dismantles the weapon, making a fool out of Keith in front of the townsfolk, before walking away and going home to pack his belongings. While doing so, he flicks through the chess book and finds a picture of Beth's brother Drake and Ben; he focuses on a tattoo Drake had on his forearm, which says "Aces" and he remembers something about the night raid and the ambush back in Iraq and he leaves the house, heading for Beth's.

Judge Clayton berates his son for his behaviour during the incident in the town, but Keith walks out, leaving his Deputy's badge and he heads for Beth's, even though they are in the middle of a storm. He walks in soaking wet, trying to reconcile, then, when she spurns him, he decides to take Ben with him, to which the boy runs out into the storm with Keith following. Beth then goes after them, just as Logan arrives to talk to Beth; Ellie urges Logan to follow Beth and he does so.

Ben is heading for his tree house, but gets into difficulty crossing the river because of the storm. The rope bridge gives way and father and son are dropped into the water, just as Beth and Logan arrive. Keith calls to Logan for help and he immediately comes to assist, as the tree house is swaying precariously in the high winds. Keith gives Ben to Logan and he says he will come straight back for Keith, but as Logan hands Ben to Beth and begins to come back, the tree house falls on Keith, who is crushed, or drowns.

As paramedics take Ben to hospital, Judge Clayton is there and thanks Logan for saving Ben, to which Logan replies that is was his son that had saved Ben.

While Ben recuperates in his room, Beth comes down and thanks Logan for what he did. Logan then shows her the photograph from Ben's chess book replies that he knew what happened to Drake, also known as "Sgt. Aces"; his group was the other platoon ambushed in the night raid. When one of his men was injured, without any regard for his own safety, he went to the aid of his comrade, and paid for it with his life. Logan says that Drake didn't die for nothing.

He then leaves, but Beth runs after him, asking him to stay, as this was where he belonged.

The film ends with the three of them on the boat, which Logan had earlier restored to full working order.

Cast

• Zac Efron as Lt. Colonel Logan Thibault
• Taylor Schilling as Beth Clayton
• Blythe Danner as Nana
• Jay R. Ferguson as Keith Clayton
• Riley Thomas Stewart as Ben Clayton
• Joe Chrest as Deputy Moore
• Jillian Batherson as Amanda
• Whitney Forsythe as Logan's Sister
• Russell Durham Comegys as Roger Lyle
• Robert Hayes as Victor Miles
• Cameron Banfield as Younger Marine
• Ashley Tisdale as Caren

Reception

The Lucky One received generally negative reviews from critics. At Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a "negative" rating of 20%, based on 133 reviews and an average rating of 4.3/10, with the critical consensus saying, "While it provides the requisite amount of escapist melodrama, The Lucky One ultimately relies on too many schmaltzy clichés to appeal to anyone not already familiar with the Nicholas Sparks formula". It also has a score of 38 on Metacritic based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

The Lucky One made $22,515,358 over its opening weekend, landing in number 2 at the box office behind Think Like A Man, but was able to end The Hunger Games 4 week streak as well. As of May 13, 2012, it has grossed an estimated $53,721,000 in North America and $22,800,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $76,521,000.

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Drama		Pending
	Choice Movie Actor: Drama	Zac Efron	Pending

External links

• The Lucky One at IMDb
• The Lucky One at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Lucky One at Metacritic