I'm so glad I stumbled upon this film. I always love a good story and THE LUCKY ONES is a great character driven story. This is my first IMDb review so I'm going to be very careful NOT to give anything away, so I'll leave it at this...if you are looking for a great story with engaging, believable characters and just scenically pleasant to the eye, this is the movie for you. If you need to see things "blow up", make another choice.

Do you feel lucky? The lucky ones sure do. Who are the lucky ones? Rachel Adams, Tim Robbins, and Michael Pena star lighthearted road movie about three injury soldiers on the way back from duty, trying to head home across America. They are forced to drive together in a car, due to sudden black out forces all flights out of New York to be canceled. Each one has a purpose to get home, but on the way, the journey turns into self-discovery as all of them, learn a little bit more of themselves and each other through laughter and hardship. Tim Robbins is Cheaver--- a middle age soldier with a broken back who come back to a broken home- full of a wife who wants a divorce and a son who needs $20,000 for college. Rachel Adams is Colee who lost her friend and wants to find his family in order to return his guitar and live with them since she's lost any ties with her own. Last is Michael Pena whom is TK who suffered a wound that has made him impotent trying to go to Las Vegas for treatment. Each character has it faults and charms. It's really funny and intelligent— but there are scenes that make you questions what message are they trying to show. There are hints of anti-war messages, while addressing the pros and cons of army life but all three understand their life in duties in the armed forces. -Three strong performances from three solid actors. A great watch in and out. Check it out

The Lucky Ones was a great idea for a film. A road movie about three soldiers on leave, played my Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Pena. When these three soldiers - who are initially strangers - end up on a plane together (and eventually a rental car due to the grounding of planes) they're forced to spend time together, limping and driving across the country, battle scars everywhere.Directed by Neil Burger, known mostly for 2006's decent enough The Illusionist, The Lucky Ones feels like the work of a filmmaker who has ended up far out of his league. He seems to make some good decisions here and there (the film is well cast and the concept is strong), but, for a $14 million dollar film with three great leads, The Lucky Ones is a major disappointment. For starters, cinematographer Declan Quinn (In America, Rachel Getting Married, Leaving Las Vegas, Monsoon Wedding, etc.) doesn't give this film a $14 million dollar look. In fact, after a few scenes I got excited, thinking that this might be a true indie film with a tiny budget. It's not. And, unless Burger paid his stars big bucks, I can't figure out where the $14 million went - there's nothing in this film that should've cost much more than a Joe Swanberg or Andrew Bujalski film.And while that might seem like a petty complaint (seeing as how most movie watchers don't analyze such things), let me also take this opportunity to point out how sad it is to see Burger, who also wrote the film, waste away a great story idea. Three unconnected modern day soldiers end up stuck in a car together, crossing the country? How can you mess that up?! Especially when you have McAdams, Robbins, Pena and Quinn on your team? Burger finds a way.All that said, there are some enjoyable moments in this pedestrian piece of film art. Whenever the trio pass any sort of landmark or tourist trap, McAdams' character begs to stop, the other two denying her. They three all wake up at night with night terrors. We even get to see the endlessly soft-and-sweet McAdams start a fight at a college bar in southern Indiana where she's eventually backed up by her new solider pals. It could've been a classic moment. Unfortunately, it's not memorable and hardly believable, no matter how convincingly muscular McAdams' jaw and shoulders are. Robbins' and Pena's performances are strong throughout and McAdams' face continues to be the best screen face of her time. But, aside from these minor points, The Lucky Ones is a disappointment. Soldiers are, by average, living the most storyteller-worthy lives of any Americans right now, and this is all Berger can come up with? A bar fight and night terrors? Needless to say, this isn't a very deep or thoughtful film. The end - which I'm sure Burger thinks is incredibly thoughtful and unexpected - wraps things up nicely, of course. Don't things always wrap up nicely for soldiers?And the use of music? Ugh. Berger offers a selection of super obvious hipster picks mixed in with a score so cheesy that you have to doubt the vision of the director. F'real; it's that bad. Does the guy who likes this awful score really like all of this great indie music, or is he just trying to be hip? That's the question.I could go on, but why bother. Burger, who with The Illusionist became a director to watch, has become, with The Lucky Ones, a director who is going to have to fight for jobs, stars and production budgets. The classic case of an over-hyped auteur blowing their big break.

This is one of the funniest movies about serious topics, and I thought the acting was excellent. Almost every scene in the film has the three main actors in it, and the dynamic between them is fun to watch. The three soldiers coming home on leave find themselves stuck together, and a road trip adventure ensues. The circumstances they get into tell us a lot about the characters, and each scene gives more depth to the individuals and the relationships that develop. I really liked all three main characters even with their flaws.I laughed more during this movie than I usually do during comedies so I guess that means it has my kind of humor. Unlike the review by "Super and Mik", I didn't think it was slow or the ending at all predictable. I thought the plot was engaging. I rated the movie 9 out of 10 stars, but I'm not sure what could have made it a ten. It's well written with a balance between comedy and drama. It's perfectly cast, and I also liked the directing and attention to detail. I highly recommend this flick. I don't understand why it flopped at the box office.