Just My Luck Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Just My Luck Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf March 22, 2015

In 2005, actress Lindsay Lohan was at a crossroads in her career. Building a fanbase with Disney fare such as “The Parent Trap,” “Freaky Friday,” and “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,” while nurturing a career as a pop star during MTV’s last stand as a music-oriented cable channel, Lohan was running out of time, stuck with a starring role in “Herbie Fully Loaded” that played to children while she was breaking into adulthood. Resisting the lure to keep playing young, Lohan elected to make a few grown-up films that reflected her maturity, using 2006 to appear in “A Prairie Home Companion” and “Bobby,” while returning to starring duties with “Just My Luck.” Positioned as a hip romantic comedy with a heavy lean toward slapstick, the effort provided Lohan with an opportunity to play a savvy businesswoman in the NYC fast lane, take on a more pronounced sexual identity, and mingle with other adults. What “Just My Luck” failed to supply was a sense of humor and a director capable of turning a dreadful script into adequate escapism.

Ashley (Lindsay Lohan) is a PR lackey looking for her big break, blessed with incredible good luck she uses to score top clothes and men, while sharing her fortune with pals Maggie (Samaire Armstrong) and Dana (Bree Turner). Taking a chance to help music label mogul Damon (Faizon Love) with his publicity needs, Ashley scores a major contract, vaulting her into a power position under boss Peggy (Missi Pyle). Jake (Chris Pine) is a bowling alley janitor trying to become manager to the band McFly, hoping to share their demo with Damon. Unfortunately, Jake has horrible luck, with his life near ruin. Sneaking into one of Damon’s parties disguised as a dancer, Jake hopes to finally corner the millionaire. Instead, he ends up bewitched by Ashley, and when the two share a kiss on the dance floor, they swap extremes of luck. Immediately, Ashley’s life is quickly ruined by accidents and catastrophes, while Jake’s life turns into gold, securing a contract for McFly. Determined to figure out what happened to her once magnificent life, Ashley sets out to locate the mystery man that changed everything, only to find herself falling in love with her enemy.

There are a host of problems with “Just My Luck,” with lethargy the primary concern. The director is Donald Petrie, helmer of “Welcome to Mooseport,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” and “Grumpy Old Men.” Never one to attack the promise of screen comedy with vigor, Petrie brings his leaden sitcom touch to “Just My Luck,” taking on the task of turning Lindsay Lohan into Lucille Ball. Working with a gimmicky screenplay by I. Marline King and Amy Harris, Petrie simply stages banalities as ordered, never once stopping to think how crude and unfunny most sequences are. Instead of originality, the viewer is treated to scenes of Ashley’s newly acquired bad luck, which results in her hair being sucked into a blow dryer, an overfilling of laundry detergent into a washing machine (resulting in a sudsy explosion), and a weird beat where the stressed character plucks a dropped eye contact out a box of kitty litter, scratching her cornea when she doesn’t rinse it off before reinsertion. In other words, Ashley doesn’t have bad luck, she’s an idiot. Additional misadventures with electrocution and the wily ways of a floor polisher only reinforce Petrie’s limitations as a moviemaker, content to pilfer from silent comedies instead of shaping a personality the picture can call its own.

Dumb humor is big in “Just My Luck,” which extends to Jake’s troubled ways in the opening of the movie, seen stumbling through Central Park in distress, eventually mistaken for a rapist due to a combination of imbalance, ripped pants, and flop sweat. It’s an awful sequence. Mercifully, Pine’s performance is easy to digest, handling humiliations and good luck awe with pleasing conviction, easily making his scenes the most palatable in the picture. Lohan isn’t quite up to the challenge of playing an adult, used primarily by Petrie for paper doll purposes, putting the actress in a plethora of dresses, while barely breaking the seal on necessary levels of panic Ashley should be experiencing as her infallible ways evaporate. Instead, Lohan plays everything dead-eyed, leaving the supporting cast to liven up the feature, working to sell Ashley as the wish fulfillment machine she’s intended to be.

As for McFly, the band at the center of the story, “Just My Luck” fails to sell them as the next big thing. Basically a commercial for the group, the movie doesn’t highlight anything more than a basic power-pop sound common to the decade, making rigid, heavily sculpted hair their most impressive achievement.

Just My Luck Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1:85:1 aspect ratio) presentation suffers from age, showing signs of filtering that removes most filmic qualities from the viewing experience, giving the movie a video-like appearance. The image looks a bit darkened as well, muting an otherwise eager color palette, though primaries do retain some snap when exposed to the light of day. Detail is only passable, best with rubbery close-ups and glamour shots, lacking crispness usually inherent to pictures of the era. Delineation is acceptable, though crush is present during a few low-lit sequences.

Just My Luck Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is surprisingly modest, showing only a moderate interest in surround activity with atmospherics, leaving rainfall and concert crowd bustle the only real pronounced events. Dialogue exchanges sustain clarity, with performances preserved during slapstick sequences and club visits, while softer romantic moments carry adequate mood. Scoring is tinny but never distorted, providing support as necessary. Soundtrack cuts lack low-end heft, along with McFly performance scenes, which carry more thin than powerful.

Just My Luck Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Featurette (2:23, SD) is a brief look at the style of "Just My Luck," with production participants discussing costume choices, while a series of screen tests are shown.

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (6:32, SD) follow Ashley as her credit cards are declined at her favorite sushi restaurant, her quest to secure a bank loan is denied, and includes a moment where the desperate, newly unemployed woman hides in a mail cart to sneak back into her office.

• "Casting Session" (8:51, SD) is a Fox Movie Channel special that interviews director Donald Petrie, casting director Michael Hothorn, and producer Arnold Rifkin. The men attempt to articulate the creative intent of "Just My Luck," concentrating on studio movie formula and the strengths of their cast.

• Lindsay Lohan Profile (3:57, SD) is a short interview with the lead actress, who looks visibly uncomfortable answering questions about her career ambitions and character motivation.

• Chris Pine Profile (3:49, SD) is a second interview segment, only Pine is incredibly game to take the job of selling "Just My Luck" seriously.

• McFly Featurettes (16:12, SD) is a collection of Beatles-esque mischief featuring the British band, who horse around on set and have a nasty habit of talking over one another. The most interesting segment details Petrie's efforts to keep a theater full of extras entertained as the production films a concert sequence.

• McFly Concert Footage (7:13, SD) showcases the guys on stage.

• A Theatrical Trailer is not included.

Just My Luck Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Just My Luck" doesn't connect as a romantic comedy, unable to supply a reason why Ashley and Jake would be attracted to each other beyond physical appearance. A crucial sense of connection is missing from the mix, lost to endless moments of pratfalls and mugging, watching Petrie become more interested in building the movie into an uproarious comedy while the screenwriting tries to cool down overt joking to unite the bad luck duo as a couple. Without warmth and laughs, "Just My Luck" ends up bland and periodically insufferable, perhaps more interesting to audiences now for its dated elements than anything creative or dramatic it's barely making an effort to offer.