JUST MY LUCK

by Jane Louise Boursaw

Should you bring the kids? Most of the PG content is mild, so this movie is ok for kids 10 and older, though girls will like it more than boys. For more info, see "Bringing the Kids" below.

THE STORY: Lindsay Lohan plays Ashley, the luckiest girl in New York City. When she steps outside, storm clouds evaporate and taxicabs screech to a halt. She has a beautiful apartment, a promising career, and plenty of dates with rich guys. In short, her life is fabulous.

Meanwhile, Jake (Chris Pine, who could be Rob Lowe's cute younger brother), is the UNluckiest guy in town. When HE steps outside, it starts pouring down rain and taxicabs try to run him down. His life consists of working as a janitor at a bowling alley and trying – but failing – to get big-record-exec Damon Phillips (Faizon Love) to listen to a new band playing at the bowling alley. Jake's an expert in Murphy's Law – if something can go wrong, it will. He's on a first-name basis with all the hospitals, poison control centers, and police precincts in town.

As luck would have it, Mr. Big-Record-Exec has a meeting at the public relations company where Ashley works. When her boss gets stuck in an elevator, Ashley ends up pitching a spur-of-the-moment campaign to him on the fly. He goes for it. First up: a big masquerade party to promote his company, and Ashley's in charge of organizing it.

Jake learns about the party and weasels his way in, pretending to be one of the dancers. When he and Ashley share an impulsive kiss on the dance floor, they swap fates. Now Jake is the one with the glamorous life and Ashley is getting rained on. Within 24 hours, she lands in jail, loses her job, and ends up sleeping on her friends' futon after her apartment gets flooded. Meanwhile, Jake's band is picked up by Phillips, and he starts living large.

When Ashley figures out that the kiss swapped out her good luck with his bad luck, she's determined to find him, kiss him again, and get her luck back.

THE WRAP-UP: After screening this movie by myself, I decided it would be ok for my almost-9-year-old daughter (she was begging me to take her). Yeah, there are a few adult-centric scenes and some swearing – including the sh** word a few times – but overall, it's fairly tame on the PG-13 scale. Also, the theme of this movie is that our lives are determined by sheer luck – some of us have it and others don't. To that end, a fortune teller at the masquerade party tells Ashley that her luck is about to turn and, sure enough, it does after she kisses Jake. Probably a good idea to make sure kids know that "luck" is more a matter of "hard work" than anything else.

BRINGING THE KIDS:

PRESCHOOLERS (ages 2-5): Because of the sexual references and adult themes, this movie is NOT for preschoolers.

GRADE-SCHOOLERS (ages 6 - 10): Girls 10 and older will probably love this movie, thanks to Lindsay Lohan, her glamorous clothes, apartment and lifestyle. Be aware, however, that some of the content isn't appropriate for kids. Women are shown in low-cut dresses, and at the masquerade party, Ashley's boss and neighbor are depicted in the early stages of having sex. It's later discovered that the neighbor is a prostitute (or, as he puts it, "an escort"). There's some wacky violence involving bad luck -- Ashley gets punched by a female inmate in jail, Jake gets hit by a car (but is ok), and in one scene, Jake rips his pants, can't keep them up while chasing the record exec through the park, and ends up looking like he's trying to molest a female jogger. All these scenes are played for laughs, and for the most part, they ARE pretty funny. As long as you talk about these things with kids and why they're right or wrong, I think this movie is ok for kids 10 and older.

TWEEN / TEEN (ages 11+): If your kids are fans of romantic comedies – and not completely sick of seeing Lohan on every magazine cover – they'll probably get a kick out of this movie. Nothing deep here, but it's a fun way to escape for a couple of hours, and I didn't mind seeing it twice. It also features fun music by British pop band, McFly, the band that Jake's trying to promote.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 Reels

Jane's Reel Rating System:
One Reel: Pathetic. Even The Force can’t save it.
Two Reels: Tolerable. Coulda been a contender.
Three Reels: Thought-provoking. Something to talk about.
Four Reels: Wow! The stuff dreams are made of.

E-chat with me at jane@reellifewithjane.com - I LOVE to talk about movies!

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