Few
mysteries in Hollywood are as big as how Nora Ephron continues to get directing
gigs. True, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail are harmless enough (even
though they're practically the same film), but with Michael and Mixed Nuts, Lucky
Numbers completes the elephant dung trilogy.
In
Lucky Numbers, John Travolta plays a weatherman (a job performed far better by
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day) who finds himself in debt. Following a major water
draught, it seems our hapless hero has no one to turn to. So, with the aid of
a strip club owning buddy (played by Tim Roth) and a ditzy Lotto showgirl (played
by Lisa Kudrow), Travolta hatches a plan to fix the lottery so he can pay off
his debts. The scheme works, but before long the secret is out, and everyone wants
a piece of the action.
Lucky
Numbers is sort of a dumb chain reaction picture in which everything escalates
to a boil and gets worse instead of better. The same could be said for the film
itself. I've always said that there's nothing worse than a comedy that isn't funny
and Lucky Numbers has very few laughs.
Ephron
can be a strong screenwriter (she proved that with When Harry Met Sally) and she
even turned in a good performance in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks, but with
Lucky Numbers, she hits rock bottom. This is surprising considering she attracted
the likes of Michael Moore (Roger and Me, The Big One), Ed O'Neil (Married With
Children), Tim Roth (Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction), Bill Pullman (Independence Day),
Michael Rappaport (Copland) and many others. All are wasted, of course, in a completely
convoluted and tedious storyline that I felt would never come to an end. This
is just one unfunny scenario after another.
Lucky
Numbers is one of those films that left me pondering; "How the hell did they
greenlight this picture!" It should also be noted that although not quite
as bad as Battlefield Earth, Travolta better watch his step or he will be forced
to make yet another comeback.
