There are many movies that demonstrate the excitement and expectations that go hand in hand in Vegas poker tournaments. Some are truly great films while others leave a true poker fan wondering why they just paid money to see a cheesy love story set against the background of a Vegas poker tournament. The 2007 drama ‘Lucky You’ is one of the latters.
The film stars Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall, and is directed by Curtis Hanson. ‘Lucky You’ follows Bana’s character, Huck Cleever, a talented poker player living in Las Vegas, who is haunted by his relationship with his estranged father, L.C. Cleever, himself a two-time World Series of Poker champion. Huck is a regular in Las Vegas poker rooms but needs to raise $10,000 to secure himself a seat in the No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament at the World Series of Poker.
After a good night at the Bellagio’s poker room, Huck goes to a party and meets aspiring singer Billie Offer, played by Drew Barrymore, who has just moved to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, loan shark Roy Durucher, played by Charles Martin Smith, tells Huck that he is as good a poker player as his father, but he has a reputation as a “blaster” (not patient enough) and always goes for broke. Roy proposes to finance Huck in the $10,000 main-event with a 60/40 split if they win, but Huck refuses. Huck later plays in a super satellite for his entry to the World Series of Poker main event, but loses. L.C., who has recently returned to Las Vegas from the south of France, wins all of Huck’s stake money in a quick poker game.
The film is predicatable throughout, though I won’t sum up the whole thing in case you are still interested in watching it. Despite being poorly reviewed by critics and shunned by audiences, the film about Vegas poker tournaments just may be worth watching for one thing: a cast of actual poker pros.
Among those featured as themselves in “Lucky You” are: Sammy Farha, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Lindgren, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Johnny Chan and John Juanda. In addition, a few poker players are also cast as actors in the film, including Jennifer Harman as Shannon Kincaid and David Oppenheim as Josh Cohen.
