Just My Luck (2006) starring Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine, Samaire Armstrong, Bree Turner, Faizon Love, Missi Pyle directed by Donald Petrie Movie Review

Just My Luck (2006)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Chris Pine and Lindsay Lohan in Just My Luck (2006)

Lohan's - Bad Luck or Bad Judgement

She had it all and everything she touched turned to gold but in a blink of an eye she lost it, she lost that Midas touch and ended up in a brush with the law. Now I could be on about the career of Lindsay Lohan but in truth I am no about "Just My Luck" which stars Lohan as Ashley Albright who goes from having it all to being a complete loser. The thing about "Just My Luck" is that it isn't anything special, just another girl movie for those back in 2006 who were fans of Lindsay Lohan and maybe Chris Pine and at a stretch McFly. But whilst it won't be everyone's cup of tea "Just My Luck" will entertain those who fall within its target audience.

Ashley Albright (Lindsay Lohan - Herbie Fully Loaded) has it all; you could even say that what ever she touches turns to gold, because she is the luckiest person on the planet. On the other hand Jake Hardin (Chris Pine - Surrender, Dorothy) is the king of misfortune as if anything bad is going to happen it's going to happen to him and that makes trying to promote Brit band McFly in America a lost cause. But when Jake manages to sneak into a masquerade party for record producer Damon Phillips (Faizon Love) his luck changes when he shares a kiss with Ashley and fortune switches places. Now Jake has it all and Ashley well she becomes the unluckiest person on the planet and the only way she can get her luck back is to find the masked man she kissed.

Lindsay Lohan as Ashley Albright in Just My Luck (2006)

At its heart "Just My Luck" takes the idea of two people switching places but rather than actually switching bodies they magically switch fortune through a kiss with luck being replaced by misfortune and vice versa. In a way think of "Trading Paces" where the humour of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd created many a laugh and you will have an idea to what "Just My Luck" is sort of about. And as such the fun not so much comes from either Ashley or Jake being lucky but the various misfortunes they suffer at the hands of Murphy's Law.

Now as an adult one of my bug bears is that the humour through out "Just My Luck" is not so much bad luck but bad judgement. Getting drenched by a passing car or taking a bite from an apple and finding a maggot, now that is bad luck but putting too much soap powder in a washing machine and ending up battling bubbles that is basically stupidity. That minor issue is annoying because a lot of the supposed "misfortune" is in reality stupidity and whilst the dire situations which arise from some stupidity are amusing they're not exactly clever.

Of course this "misfortune" paves way for a less than surprising and rather light weight romance as Ashley and Jake end up falling for each other. Now this does throw up the semi-clever idea of how can they be romantically involved when a kiss means that one will suddenly suffer at the hands of Murphy's law and there is an amusing scene where the arrival and departure sign at a train station flicks back and forth as they kiss. But in reality this romantic element is so light that it will only really appeal to young teenage girls who will enjoy the fantasy element of meeting a really nice guy.

Now as nice guys go Chris Pine does do a reasonable good job as Greg coming over as a decent guy whether the is suffering bad luck or good, although who ever decided was that he should be trying to promote McFly in America made a serious mistake. Sadly Lindsay Lohan as Ashley is not so good and seems to be pretty much on autopilot playing such a cliche character. Now in someway you can't blame Lohan for going on autopilot when it comes to such a generic character but it means the occasional moment where she comes to life and delivers a lively scene stands out against the rest of her performance. Of course teenage girls probably won't pick up on this but it is another one of those annoyances which shows itself when as an adult you find yourself watching "Just My Luck".

What this all boils down to is that from an adult's point of view "Just My Luck" is a very generic fairytale rom-com which has problems and often struggles to hold your attention. But then "Just My Luck" is a movie which is made for teenage girls, and it is teenage girls who will probably enjoy the obvious romantic element and be amused by the "misfortune" even if it is more often or not bad luck is bad judgement.


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