DVD REVIEW: LUCKY THEM

Shane | 9 July 2015 | Reply

DVD REVIEW: LUCKY THEM
Shock Entertainment
3 July, 2015
Directed by Megan Griffiths
Starring Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, Oliver Platt
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9/10

Toni Collette plays Ellie Klug in this truly enjoyable homage to rock n’ roll obsession and love.

The ‘enigmatic talent dropping out and living in anonymous obscurity’ trope is nothing new: in real life the myth of Elvis and Jim Morrison faking their own deaths are writ large across rock folklore, and the movie Eddie & The Cruisers is just one which explored the concept.

In Lucky Them, Collette’s jaded music journalist Krug still pines for her lover Matthew Smith, who vanished some years before. Stuck in a self-destructive cycle of cheap flings with musicians in an effort to feel something of that cut-short-affair, Krug’s career is also swirling down the tubes until magazine boss Giles (Oliver Platt) gives her a do-or-die assignment: find Smith and write about it.

Allying herself with Charlie (Thomas Haden Church), an old acquaintance who fancies himself an amateur filmmaker but possesses little tact or charm, Klug sets off following leads to find her old flame and, hopefully, save her job – not counting on falling for another muso, Lucas Stone (Ryan Eggold), along the way.

With a charismatic cameo by Johnny Depp as the enigmatic Smith, and a mostly realistic (the gig scenes are remarkably sedate and devoid of the usual plethora of idiots talking about getting their hair done, trying to film the band with their phones, and drunks barging around) portrayal of the music and music journalist’s world, Lucky Them is a simple yet touching story, done great justice by it’s talented cast and Megan Griffiths’ assured direction.