Spring Break
Good Luck Chuck Is Not Worth Your Bucks
Natalie Abreu
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Focus
Penchants for penguins, offensive and tasteless jokes, endless nudity and all-too-convenient plot devices describe the totally humorless experience that is "Good Luck Chuck," a raunchy, over-the-top and totally unrealistic romantic comedy starring stand up comedian Dane Cook and Jessica Alba.
The film opens suddenly with the plain main title "Good Luck Chuck," as if to say this is just another soon to be forgotten, generic romantic comedy. The first scene thrusts the audience into 1985, where the pre-adolescent versions of Charlie and his rude, crude and lewd friend Stu partake in a "Spin the Bottle/Seven Minutes of Heaven" party. The first sentence of this film is an immature "I love boobies" reference that unfortunately does not go away after the first scene, even when we are taken to the present where Charlie the dentist (played by Cook) and Stu the plastic surgeon (played by "Balls of Fury" star Dan Folger) are both successful doctors.
In the present, Charlie seems to hit and miss on every relationship he's been in, while every woman who he sleeps with finds the man (or woman) of her dreams. This all stems from the party he partook in 22 years before, where a Goth girl who just wanted a little more than kissing with Charlie put a hex on him. It is a plot device just thrown in out of nowhere, one of many in the film. Eventually, when ex after ex of Charlie's gets married, word gets around that he's a "good luck charm." So what does Charlie do? Charlie's "boobie"-obsessed friend Stu suggests that he take advantage of the situation and even convinces Charlie that he's performing a civil service by helping women find true love. Charlie then proceeds to sleep with girl after girl in a senseless, pornographic montage sequence.
But Charlie, who seems bored by all the no-strings attached encounters, wants more than just endless sex. He pursues the Murphy's Law prone Cam, a penguin obsessed penguin trainer played by Alba. Yes that's right, a penguin trainer. Charlie falls for her, even if she is cursed with accidents like walking into champagne glasses, knocking over tables and falling into a penguin pool. Because he thinks that she's the one, he can't take their relationship to the "next level" for fear that his good luck will rub off on her. So Charlie's dilemma ensues: should he sleep with her or not? In the end, the typical romantic comedy ending occurs, followed by more penguin references.
The film opens suddenly with the plain main title "Good Luck Chuck," as if to say this is just another soon to be forgotten, generic romantic comedy. The first scene thrusts the audience into 1985, where the pre-adolescent versions of Charlie and his rude, crude and lewd friend Stu partake in a "Spin the Bottle/Seven Minutes of Heaven" party. The first sentence of this film is an immature "I love boobies" reference that unfortunately does not go away after the first scene, even when we are taken to the present where Charlie the dentist (played by Cook) and Stu the plastic surgeon (played by "Balls of Fury" star Dan Folger) are both successful doctors.
In the present, Charlie seems to hit and miss on every relationship he's been in, while every woman who he sleeps with finds the man (or woman) of her dreams. This all stems from the party he partook in 22 years before, where a Goth girl who just wanted a little more than kissing with Charlie put a hex on him. It is a plot device just thrown in out of nowhere, one of many in the film. Eventually, when ex after ex of Charlie's gets married, word gets around that he's a "good luck charm." So what does Charlie do? Charlie's "boobie"-obsessed friend Stu suggests that he take advantage of the situation and even convinces Charlie that he's performing a civil service by helping women find true love. Charlie then proceeds to sleep with girl after girl in a senseless, pornographic montage sequence.
But Charlie, who seems bored by all the no-strings attached encounters, wants more than just endless sex. He pursues the Murphy's Law prone Cam, a penguin obsessed penguin trainer played by Alba. Yes that's right, a penguin trainer. Charlie falls for her, even if she is cursed with accidents like walking into champagne glasses, knocking over tables and falling into a penguin pool. Because he thinks that she's the one, he can't take their relationship to the "next level" for fear that his good luck will rub off on her. So Charlie's dilemma ensues: should he sleep with her or not? In the end, the typical romantic comedy ending occurs, followed by more penguin references.
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