Gettin' Lucky review by The Grim Ringler
Gettin’ Lucky
No being a huge fan of most mainstream comedies, it’s a rare delight when I am able to find one that I connect with and really start to adore, and it gets more rare when you throw in the sex comedy. It’s very exciting, and very encouraging though when you come across a movie that is so damned good, and executed so well that any genre title you have for it sort of falls by the way-side and you realize, damn, this is just a very good film. Gettin’ Lucky is in that rare class.
Four male friends and poker buddies are all at cross roads in their lives. Each one is at a point in their lives where they are ready to stop screwing around, figuratively and literally, and want to settle down. Even if they aren’t ready to admit that fact even to themselves. And friends though they may be, they have reached a place in their lives where they have to find a place for themselves outside of their group. So, venturing out into the world of dating, each of them – save for the sole member of the group that is married, though not quite ready to give up his sex-god days – starts looking for Miss Right, instead of Miss Rocks Your World In Bed. Well, ok, they want to find a little of both, let’s face it. One of the friends meets a woman who is a professional call girl, one meets a woman just out for sex, and the last friend meets what may be the perfect woman…if her booty call boyfriend doesn’t ruin things. And while each of the men has an idea what they want in someone, and what they are looking for, as they get to know the women, and their families, and lives, they realize just how much compromise means in building a relationship. They, each of the four friends, is faced with the idea that if they are really going to make a connection with someone that lasts, then they are going to have to meet someone they can not only be sexually compatible with but emotionally compatible with as well. And that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
As smartly written a film as you are apt to find concerning romance, the wonder of this film is that director Mike Andrews has captured a truth about dating that few films ever manage. Sure, they get the sex down pat, but when it comes to creating characters and dialogue that is realistic and reflects reality, they always fall short. Not so with Gettin’ Lucky. Director Andrews has nailed it. The crass jokes friends tell one another, the crazy quirks that make us real people, and the awful secrets and truths that we sometimes have to look past in order to really accept someone as they are. But this dialogue is meaningless if the actors don’t hold up their end, and in this case, they do completely. The actors are all fantastic, and each one creates a character that has depth and honesty that you can relate to. And I credit director Andrews for allowing the film to play out and for not trying to over-direct it. It’s a well-made film, and a film made with obvious skill, but is not showy, and shouldn’t be. This is about characters, not about the director’s zooms and pans.
I think if I had a quibble it’d be with some of the edits and the use of scene changes. There are some that just took me out of the moment that had been created and the wipe to black felt awkward. Otherwise things worked really well.
I truly hope that Mr. Andrews gets the exposure with this film that he deserves. He is an obvious talent and a terrific storyteller (and has a hell of a lot of range considering he has made two sex comedies and a dark, tragic short period piece) and deserves to make bigger films. While Gettin’ Lucky is a fun, funny, insightful, and very well made film and is spot on with its writing. I can’t recommend it highly enough and hope that it gets the distribution, be it theaters or video that it deserves. When there are so many re-treads at the theater these days, it’s exciting to see a film that is so fresh and interesting that it really makes you excited not just for a film, but for the filmmakers as well. This is one of those rare films. See it!
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