Your Lucky Day Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Your Lucky Day Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 24, 2024

If you're like a lot of people, you've probably at least fantasized about winning the lottery, and in fact when some of the national lotteries have gotten either close to or even past the billion point, you may have actually taken time to do the math to figure out what the yearly payment on the "installment option" might be. Ahem. Your Lucky Day takes the general premise of winning the lottery, but then filters it through a series of characters who might jokingly if charitably be called losers. In this case it's for a "mere" $156,000,000, but even when split among several witnesses to a crime, that might still be a rather sizable nest egg to soothe any qualms a guilty conscience may engender. This film may be of some passing interest to some since it offers one of the last performances by Angus Cloud, who sadly died from an overdose last year at the tender age of 25. Some trivia fans who pay attention to credits may be intrigued by the fact that this was written and directed by one Daniel Brown, though it's evidently not that guy famous for The Da Vinci Code.

The fact that Brown begins this exercise with the epigram "Based on the American Dream" and then begins to deconstruct various socioeconomic strata in the context of a motley crew of characters held hostage in a convenience score might indicate there's a bit of a screed like quality to the film, and while that probably can't be completely denied, Brown is at least rather artful in peeling back the layers of various characters to reveal both their peccadilloes and, in some cases at least, maybe a saving grace or two. The first real "lesson" the film may impart, though, is that if you walk into a convenience store with at least one or two shady looking folks hanging out in the aisles, it's probably best not to break out in a victory dance when you check your lottery ticket and find out you've won $156,000,000.

Suffice it to say Cloud's character Sterling may not exactly be a "hero", and in fact he sets off an increasingly cascading body count when he decides maybe he'd like that winning lottery ticket. Unfortunately, there are a number of other people in the store, including a policeman, though by the time the dust has settled, it's at least thought that the cop is out of service. In just one of several twists and turns, it might actually be better if all the police in this sordid tale were out of service.

There are some rather florid stylistic touches at hand in Your Lucky Day, and at times a rather trenchant, black sense of humor running just beneath the surface carnage. Cloud is both feral and vulnerable, and I'm fairly sure his fans will enjoy one of their last chances to see him.

Your Lucky Day Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Your Lucky Day is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The closing credits roll doesn't offer a camera logo, and the IMDb doesn't have much information as of the writing of this review. This is an almost schizophrenic looking presentation at times, one that ping pongs between a gritty, quasi-16mm appearance and a more "traditional" sharp and sleek high definition digital capture look. That gives things an undeniably heterogeneous, and maybe even slightly disjointed, feeling, but on the whole, detail levels are very good to excellent, and the palette is really quite nicely suffused. In fact, the palette may be one of the most interesting stylistic aspects of the film, especially in some of the pastel hues that, considering the film's setting in Miami, may remind some of Miami Vice, albeit here often delivered in dark and somewhat murky environments. I noticed no major compression anomalies.

Your Lucky Day Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Your Lucky Day features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that manages to deliver some consistent surround activity despite an often claustrophobic setting inside the convenience store. Some early establishing moments with Sterling, and later outside sequences, including some in torrential rain, also provide good opportunities for nicely rendered ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Your Lucky Day Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:15)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Your Lucky Day Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's quite a bit to like in Your Lucky Day, even if there are relatively few characters you really want to unabashedly root for, and the fact that the entire premise is patently ludicrous. I kind of wished at times the film had indulged in more of the pitch black humor that is at least hinted at in a couple of moments, and in fact if there's a major deficit here, it may be that there's simply too much melodrama pouring out of virtually every character caught up in the maelstrom after the boneheaded lottery winner (who is virtually already the very model of a modern Milburn Pennybags) "announces" he's even richer. Brown directs with some style, and fans of Angus Cloud will no doubt be interested to see him in one of his final roles. Technical merits are solid, though this release only offers a trailer as a supplement. With caveats noted, Recommended.