Good Luck Chuck | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mark Helfrich |
Written by | Josh Stolberg |
Produced by | Mike Karz |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
Edited by | Julia Wong |
Music by | Aaron Zigman |
Production company | Karz Entertainment |
Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes 101 minutes (unrated cut) |
Countries | United States [1] Canada [1] |
Language | English |
Budget | $25 million [2] |
Box office | $59.8 million [3] |
Good Luck Chuck is a 2007 comedy film starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba, with screenplay by Josh Stolberg and directorial debut by long-time film editor Mark Helfrich. In the film, women find their "one true love" after having sex with a dentist named Chuck (Cook). Chuck meets a girl named Cam (Alba) and tries to become her true love. The film opened in theaters on September 21, 2007, and was panned by critics. One of Good Luck Chuck's theatrical posters parodied the well-known Rolling Stone cover photographed by Annie Leibovitz featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono in similar poses.
While playing spin the bottle / seven minutes in heaven at a party in 1985, 10-year-old Charlie "Chuck" Logan refuses the sexual advances of a goth girl named Anisha Carpenter. In retaliation, she places a hex on him, saying that once a girl has been with him, "to the next she will be true".
In the present, Chuck is a successful dentist, running a practice in the office opposite his best friend Stu's plastic surgery business. While being sexually intimate with his girlfriend Carol, Chuck cannot reply that he loves her too, prompting her to immediately break up with him.
Stu and Chuck attend the wedding of one of Chuck's ex-girlfriends, Katie. During the reception, she toasts Chuck for being her lucky charm, which gains the interest of his female tablemates. He becomes enamored with Cam Wexler, an unusually clumsy, yet attractive and friendly penguin scientist working at a marine mammal park.
The next day, Chuck's office is full of women. He asks Stu if anything's different about him; they also find that Carol is engaged thanks to Chuck being a lucky charm. His date that evening wants to have sex with him because of the charm, but he gets an emergency call from Cam, who chipped her tooth in a work accident at the penguin exhibit.
Chuck fixes her tooth, but instead of accepting monetary payment, he asks her out for dinner, but Cam declines as she is not emotionally ready. He returns home to find his receptionist Reba coming onto him hoping he will be her lucky charm.
Stu encourages Chuck to indulge in more "guilt-free sex", and he does so. However, he still has feelings for Cam, and asks her out. Their relationship deepens, but when Stu calls him and tells him that every single woman Chuck had slept with has gotten married, Chuck gets cold feet and leaves.
Stu and Chuck test the curse on the ugly, morbidly obese Eleanor. Observing that she is not seeing anyone, Chuck has sex with her then makes Stu ask her out. Meanwhile, Chuck pretends to be sick, so maintains a distance relationship with Cam by phone and computer video. After Stu confirms he did it, yet Eleanor hasn't fallen for him, Chuck rushes to Cam's place and they have sex.
The next morning, when Chuck sees Eleanor on TV happily kissing another man, he angrily calls Stu, who admits he only pretended to ask her out. Worried that Cam will now find her true love, he smothers her in increasingly annoying ways, until she eventually dumps him.
While talking with Reba, Chuck sees a bottle spinning on the ground, which reminds him of the hex from his childhood. So, he and Stu locate Anisha's home. Chuck asks Anisha to remove the curse, but she insists that it was not truly real, and that her love back then was just a childhood crush. Anisha encourages him to let go of the girl he is interested in, if he truly loves her.
Chuck arranges for Cam to meet Howard Blaine, the penguin expert and author she admires. Later, Stu and his new three-breasted fiancée Lara tell him that Cam is heading to Antarctica with Howard. Chuck catches her on the plane and pleads her not to go, but Cam explains that she will be back on Wednesday and she is going with both Howard and his wife.
Chuck leaves Cam with a ring box with a pebble, a reference to a previous discussion about what penguins do to court a lifetime mate. She calls him back and they kiss. Meanwhile, Anisha pulls out her old childhood occult keepsake box, and removes a pin from the voodoo doll of Chuck. A year later, Chuck and Cam are in Antarctica together looking at the southern lights while surrounded by penguins.
During the closing credits, the housesitting Stu and Lara find a sex tape involving Chuck, Cam, and a stuffed penguin.
Good Luck Chuck was panned by critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, only 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 114 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A shortage of laughs and an undercurrent of mean-spiritedness undermine Good Luck Chuck, squandering a decent premise on gross-out humor and shopworn slapstick." [4] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 19 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike". [5]
Roger Ebert awarded the film 1 out of 4 stars, branding it "potty-mouthed and brain-damaged", whilst his reviewing partner, Richard Roeper also rated it poorly. [6] [7]
British film critic Mark Kermode named it the worst film of 2007. [8]
The film was the second-highest-grossing film at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, grossing $13.6 million in 2,612 theaters. [3] [9] The film went on to have a total box office tally of approximately $35 million U.S. and $24 million foreign.
The film earned two Razzie Award nominations including Worst Actress (Jessica Alba) and Worst Screen Couple (Alba and Dane Cook), but lost to Lindsay Lohan for I Know Who Killed Me . [10]
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Golden Raspberry Awards [10] | Worst Actress | Jessica Alba | Nominated |
Worst Screen Combo | Jessica Alba and Dane Cook | ||
Good Luck Chuck was filmed from late-September to mid-November 2006. The film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, and also partly in Edmonton, Alberta, using the Alberta Film Studio for the aquarium scenes and the neighborhood of Old Strathcona for exterior shots. [11]
The soundtrack was released on 18 September 2007.
Jessica Marie Alba is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her acting career at age 13 in Camp Nowhere (1994), followed up by The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 as the lead actress of the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.
The Cooler is a 2003 American crime drama film directed by Wayne Kramer, from a screenplay by Frank Hannah and Kramer. The film stars William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy, Ron Livingston, Estella Warren, Paul Sorvino, and Alec Baldwin. It follows a casino "cooler" whose mere presence at the gambling tables usually results in a streak of bad luck for the other players.
Fear is a 1996 American psychological thriller film directed by James Foley and written by Christopher Crowe. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Alyssa Milano and Amy Brenneman. It revolves around a wealthy family whose seemingly perfect life is threatened when their teenage daughter begins dating an attractive and mysterious young man who turns out to be a violent sociopath.
Alfie is a 2004 romantic comedy-drama film inspired by the 1966 British film of the same name and its 1975 sequel, starring Jude Law as the title character, originally played by Michael Caine in the 1966 film and Alan Price in the 1975 sequel. The film was co-written, directed, and produced by Charles Shyer.
Just My Luck is a 2006 American romantic comedy film directed by Donald Petrie, from a screenplay by I. Marlene King and Amy B. Harris, starring Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine, Faizon Love, Missi Pyle, and McFly. It tells the story of Ashley Albright who works in public relations and is the luckiest person in Manhattan, while Jake Hardin is a janitor and would-be music producer who seems to have terrible luck until their good and bad luck is switched upon kissing each other at a masquerade ball which changes both their lives and leads them to meet each other once again.
Birth of the Beatles is a 1979 American biographical film, produced by Dick Clark Productions and directed by Richard Marquand. The film was released into cinemas worldwide, except in the United States, where it was shown as a TV film on ABC. The film focuses on the early history of the Beatles. It was released nine years after the announced break-up of the Beatles themselves, and is the only Beatles biopic to be made while John Lennon was still alive. Pete Best, the Beatles' original drummer, served as a technical advisor for the production.
Double Wedding is a 1937 American screwball romantic comedy film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, and featuring Florence Rice, John Beal, Jessie Ralph, and Edgar Kennedy. This was the seventh pairing of Powell and Loy, with another seven to go. It was directed by Richard Thorpe from a screenplay by Jo Swerling based on the unpublished play Nagy szerelem by Ferenc Molnár.
The Man Who Loved Women is a 1983 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Burt Reynolds, Julie Andrews and Kim Basinger. It is a remake of the 1977 François Truffaut's film L'Homme qui aimait les femmes.
A Star Is Born is a 1976 American musical romantic drama film directed by Frank Pierson, written by Pierson, John Gregory Dunne, and Joan Didion. It stars Barbra Streisand as an unknown singer and Kris Kristofferson as an established rock and roll star who fall in love, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline. A Star Is Born premiered at the Mann Village Theater on December 18, 1976, with a wide release by Warner Bros. the following day. A huge box office success, grossing $80 million on a $6 million budget in North America, the film became the 2nd highest-grossing that year. Reviews praised its performances and musical score, but criticized the screenplay and runtime. At the 49th Academy Awards, the film won Best Original Song for its love theme "Evergreen".
Spring Break is a 1983 American sex comedy film directed and produced by Sean S. Cunningham. It stars David Knell, Perry Lang, Paul Land and Steve Bassett. The film follows two sets of two college guys spending a spring break together in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
P.S. I Love You is a 2007 American romantic film directed by Richard LaGravenese from a screenplay by LaGravenese and Steven Rogers based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. The film stars Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Harry Connick Jr. and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Choke is a 2008 American black comedy film written and directed by Clark Gregg. The film stars Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston. Production took place in New Jersey in 2007. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was purchased by Fox Searchlight Pictures for distribution. The film was released on September 26, 2008 and the DVD was released on February 17, 2009.
Kismat Konnection is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Aziz Mirza. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan with Juhi Chawla in a guest appearance. Shah Rukh Khan is the narrator. Produced by Ramesh S. Taurani under the banner of Tips Industries, Kismat Konnection was released on 18 July 2008.
The Love Guru is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Marco Schnabel in his directorial debut, written and produced by Mike Myers, and starring Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Verne Troyer, John Oliver, Omid Djalili, and Ben Kingsley. The film was a financial failure, grossing $40 million on a budget of $62 million, and was panned by both critics and audiences. It also won 3 Razzie Awards including Worst Picture.
She's Out of My League is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Jim Field Smith im his feature directorial debut, and written by Sean Anders and John Morris. It stars Jay Baruchel as an average man who begins a relationship with an attractive woman, played by Alice Eve, which is warned by his friends that it's doomed to fall apart because of their differing appearances. T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Krysten Ritter, Geoff Stults, and Lindsay Sloane also star.
Yes Man is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed, written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul, and Andrew Mogel and starring Jim Carrey and co-starring Zooey Deschanel. The film is based loosely on the 2005 memoir of the same name by humorist Danny Wallace, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film.
Valentine's Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall. The screenplay and the story were written by Katherine Fugate, Abby Kohn, and Marc Silverstein. The film features an ensemble cast led by Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Héctor Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Bryce Robinson, and Taylor Swift in her film acting debut. It tells different love stories that occur on Valentine's day.
Unfinished Business is a 2015 American comedy film directed by Ken Scott and written by Steven Conrad. The film stars Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco, Sienna Miller, Nick Frost, and James Marsden. It was released on March 6, 2015. The film was panned by critics and was a box office bomb, only grossing $14.4 million on a budget of $35 million.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Marielle Heller, based on the hybrid novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner. It stars Bel Powley as a 15-year-old girl who becomes sexually active by starting a relationship with her mother's boyfriend. It also stars Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Quinn Nagle, and Austin Lyon. It premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited release on August 7, 2015 by Sony Pictures Classics.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a 2022 sex comedy-drama film directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Katy Brand. The film stars Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack. The story revolves around a woman who seeks a young sex worker to help her experience pleasurable sex.