It seems like any movie that dares to deal with the Iraq War is doomed to fail at the box office.  People stayed away from films like In the Valley of Elah, Stop-Loss and Rendition, just to name a few recent examples.  These movies failed to connect with audiences, either due to poor marketing, the touchy subject matter, or the fact that they just weren't good enough to earn critical raves.

Director Neil Burger (The Illusionist) is looking to win over viewers who are tired of all things Iraq with his new film, The Lucky Ones. Instead of taking place in the midst of conflict, the film follows three recent veterans of the war as they travel together on a cross-country road trip.  Burger's film tries to be both emotionally powerful and blisteringly funny, but it ultimately fails to inspire much of a reaction either way.

The Lucky Ones follows servicemen Cheever (Tim Robbins), TK (Michael Pena) and Colee (Rachel McAdams), all of whom have recently been discharged from Iraq and are looking to return home to their loved ones.  After an unexpected blackout cancels all flights out of New York, the trio of strangers decide to rent a car and make their way across the country.  Along the way, TK deals with his emotional trauma over a recent injury, Colee learns that her deceased boyfriend had more than a few secrets, and Cheever discovers that his family has changed quite a bit since he went away.  The three strangers bond together and form a friendship as they try to fit into a society that has moved on without them.

The main reason to see The Lucky Ones is for the performances, all of which are uniformly excellent.  Tim Robbins is nicely subdued in his early scenes, and convincingly unravels after his character experiences a massive blow to his supposedly picture perfect family life.  Michael Pena balances both the sadness and anger that TK feels over his injury, while also making his slowly blossoming attraction to McAdams feel organic and natural.  Both actors are great, but McAdams really steals the show with her role as Colee, who is at turns hyper, flighty, naive, lovable and unbearable.  Her character seems to grow the most over the course of the film, and McAdams brings a much-needed verve to the screen that's missing from the rest of the drama.

Perhaps the worst type of film to sit through is a middling one.  Great films stick with you forever, and mediocre ones can be a hoot to rip apart, but the stuff in the middle leaves absolutely no aftertaste.  It simply washes over you for two hours and then it's gone.  Burger tries to inject The Lucky Ones with commentary about how we treat our veterans, as well as the difficulty veterans feel upon reentering a society that can't possibly relate to what they've been through, but most of it falls flats.  The emotional beats never hit, and the attempts at comedy elicit a chuckle or two at best.  The actors do all the heavy lifting they can, but the material they're working with is nothing short of forgettable.

The Lucky Ones isn't a bad film, but it's not a great one either.  It has a few interesting things to say about those who have served in the Iraq War, but Burger fails to imbue his characters or situations with enough life to make them memorable.  It may be worth seeing for the performances, but everything else will fade from memory the instant you leave the theater.

GRADE: C+


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of LionsGate)