Luck in the game

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Movie
German title Luck in the game
Original title Lucky You
Country of production USA , Australia
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Curtis Hanson
script Eric Roth ,
Curtis Hanson
production Denise Di Novi ,
Carol Fenelon ,
Curtis Hanson
music Christopher Young
camera Peter Deming
cut William Kerr ,
Craig Kitson
occupation

Lucky You (Original title: Lucky You ) is a poker - Drama from the year 2007 by director Curtis Hanson , who along with Eric Roth also wrote the screenplay. The main roles were played by Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore .

action

Las Vegas in 2003: Huck Cheever plays poker professionally and wants to take part in the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). To get money for playing poker, he even pawned his late mother's wedding ring. In addition to his acute financial need, he also has personal problems, which result mainly from the strained relationship with his father LC Cheever, a legendary poker player. He was also never able to win a game against him and so he was always overshadowed by the former poker world champion. Now he finally wants to win the title himself. But soon he was gambling away the money he won at poker, as well as the pawn ticket for the ring - and lost everything to his father of all people.

Huck meets Billie Offer, who has just come to town from Bakersfield to pursue a career as a singer. It turns out that Billie is the younger sister of Suzanne, who already met Huck. Suzanne warns her sister about Huck because he is only after quick affairs.

Roy Durucher, an old friend of Huck's, offers to pay the US $ 10,000 entry fee for the poker tournament, but he has to give him 60% of the profit - Huck refuses. Later he goes to Suzanne to ask for a loan, but meets Billie there. When Billie receives a call that she is getting a first job as a singer, Huck suggests that they celebrate it together at the casino . Billie pays the chips and Huck teaches her how to play poker. They meet Huck's player friend Lester, a man who had female breasts made for a bet. The next day, Huck picks up Billie at her new workplace. They go out to eat together and later sleep together. The next morning he steals Billie money, which he immediately gambled away. The disappointed Billie then doesn't want to have anything to do with Huck.

Even the start of a so-called satellite tournament, a tournament that secures the winner a place for the WSOP, remains unsuccessful. In his desperation, Huck comes back to Roy and wants to accept his offer after all, but he now demands 70% of the profit - Huck reluctantly accepts.

Huck pays Billie back the stolen money and apologizes to her, Billie gives him another chance. They go to breakfast together and meet Huck's father. Huck, whose problem is playing too daring and not sensible enough, gets involved in a game with his father and loses his entire $ 10,000 in the process. LC offers to give his son back the money for the tournament, but Huck does not accept it as he would only accept something from his father if he won it from him.

Since Huck does not have the entry fee for the WSOP together again, he accepts a crazy bet from Ready Eddie for 10,000 US dollars, in which he runs five miles within three hours and then successful an 18-hole golf course with a maximum of 78 strokes must complete. However, he loses the bet almost because of 2 seconds and blames Billie for his defeat, as she was responsible for the timekeeping and did not cheat for him. The two then separate again. Meanwhile, Ready Eddie makes a $ 20,000 bet with Lester that he wouldn't be able to spend an entire month in the casino's bathroom.

Huck, who has now amassed $ 20,000 in debt, realizes that he has done a few things wrong, and then he decides to change his life. In a final tournament, he finally earned the necessary entry fee. From Suzanne he learns that Billie has been driving back to Bakersfield for a few days, he looks for her there, confesses his mistakes at the door and that she was right and drives back to Las Vegas.

The WSOP tournament now has over 800 players playing for $ 2.5 million in prize money. Huck does well in the tournament and reaches the final table, which includes his father LC and another former world champion. During a break in play, father and son have a conversation in the toilet, in which LC says that it would be his last chance to win the tournament a third time and get into the books, which would be a great honor for him . LC asks his son why he has still not forgiven him for the separation from his mother when she herself forgave him shortly before she died.

Little by little, more players are eliminated and only Huck, LC and a third participant remain at the final table. At this time, Billie also appears as a spectator. When the third participant passes in a game and Huck and LC now play directly against each other and LC bets all his chips, Huck voluntarily lets his father win, although he had the better cards, but did not reveal them, but put them away and was eliminated. He wanted to prevent that he robbed his father of the chance to win the tournament. LC, who recognized Huck's actual winning hand, cannot win the tournament despite the gift from his son and comes in second. Eventually, Huck reconciles with both his father and Billie.

background

  • After the end of the credits, an additional scene is shown in which Lester comes out of the toilet of the casino after 30 days confident of victory, but Ready Eddie says he had lost the bet because May had 31 days. Lester then surprises him with the even more idiotic bet that August also has 31 days - and now wins twice as much.
  • Production costs were estimated at around $ 55 million. The film grossed around 8.3 million US dollars in cinemas worldwide, including around 5.7 million US dollars in the USA and around 193,000 US dollars in Germany.
  • It was released in the US on May 4, 2007, and in Germany on June 28, 2007.

Reviews

  • Birgit Glombitza wrote on Spiegel Online on June 27, 2007: “ A man and his all-destructive play instinct: In the poker drama“ Glück im Spiel ”, an obscure good-for-nothing grazes elegantly through the nights of Las Vegas - but when love gets in his way comes, the film is running out of trumps. [..] "Lucky You", which begins so stylishly and elegantly, soon has no more trump cards up its sleeve and becomes so romantic and simple that a little coolness would have done it good. And at some point in the middle, the film even manages to delegate its few deeper truths about life, the inability to be loved or defeat one's father to a fortune cookie. "
  • Michael Wunderlich wrote in the Nürnberger Nachrichten on June 29, 2007: “ You don't steal your girlfriend after the first sex. Especially not if you think you have to resent your father for even putting your mother's wedding ring on in order to get liquid again while playing poker. [..] A charm bolt like Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) bends it back after a lucky streak with his dachshund look. Drew Barrymore, in the role of Huck's lover, gently gulps back and lets her card shark come up painfully as a punishment on a golf bet. [..] Curtis Hanson staged his brilliantly cast film, which was even enriched with real poker greats, in a strangely low-speed manner and dragged it out, as if the aim were to demonstrate and let the audience feel the immensely exhausting nature of this kind of money-making. "
  • The lexicon of the international film judges: “ Player film about success at the gaming table, but also about a gradual personality development, the various threads of which are developed and reflected through the always detailed presented poker game. Entertaining, albeit a bit meager in terms of content. "

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for luck in the game . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2007 (PDF; test number: 110 448 K).
  2. ^ Film review by Spiegel Online
  3. ^ Film review ( memento from June 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) from Nürnberger Nachrichten
  4. Luck in the game. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

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