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"My entire life, I've been nothing more than a stepping-stone to every relationship I've ever been in. There's always been a next guy who's better than me. For once in my life, I want to be that next guy."

Good Luck Chuck is another addition to Hollywood's audaciously extensive list of raunchy romantic comedies made for an instant box office success. However this is an instance of a recent comedy that infused an impression of tremendous promise. First of all, this film encompasses an interesting premise. This premise is based on a true story of a man named Steve Glenn. Steve had seven relationships go south, and within a few months of breaking up, five of them had gotten married to the guy of their dreams. Good Luck Chuck exercises this story as a foundation to generate the plot. What would you do if you were cursed never to be in a permanent relationship? What if you slept with a girl, and then the girl married the next guy they dated? An additional contributing aspect to the film's potential is the cast. Two words: Jessica Alba. Are you still not convinced? Put quite simply, this is a comedy flick to view if you're bored and in the mood for some raunchy sex scenes.

The story of Steve Glenn is used for the film's protagonist: a dentist named Charlie Logan (Cook), known as Chuck among his friends. As a young child he rejects Gothic girl (Pieterse) that he wins during a game of spin the bottle. Said girl places a hex on Chuck: that he will never have an everlasting relationship and if he sleeps with a girl then they will find true love in the next guy they date. Chuck soon realises that this "good luck charm" (as it is now known on the internet) is rapidly becoming trendy among women who begin flocking to him and lining up for a quickie. Chuck's friend Stu (Fogler) is another of those fat-and-horny characters who will do anything for a lay! Chuck enjoys his impeccable reputation until he decides to give up his lusty ways when he meets the penguin-obsessed Cam Wexler (Alba). Through Chuck's eyes Cam is "the one", and he soon becomes compelled to find a way to break the curse as they begin falling for each other.

Many viewers will see Good Luck Chuck as more of a porno than a romantic comedy. Jessica Alba even explained that production team were "basically shooting a porno". Fascinatingly enough there's more nudity and raunchy moments than comedy. There's even a montage depicting Chuck having sex with several girls in various (interesting) different positions. So this is probably a guy's fondest fantasy: watching a date movie that also educates him on diverse sex positions. In a nutshell: this is an indication of the target audience. The laughs are few and far between. Even rarer is a memorable gag. Sure, you'll have a few laughs while watching the movie. Afterwards, however, you'll get on with your life and easily forget; primarily because these gags are gross-out gags (like a 300-pound woman farting) or graphic sexual dialogue mixed with profanity. The dialogue isn't as memorable as other recent comedies like Wedding Crashers or The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Despite all this, the film is still fairly entertaining.

Dane Cook is mediocre in the title role. Perhaps with a better director and screenwriter he will discover a more compelling reason to find a career away from the microphone on-stage at a comedy festival. Jessica Alba doesn't have much acting depth; however she's undeniably gorgeous and appears to be putting in an effort. Dan Fogler is nothing but a fat-and-horny sidekick who keeps chattering non-stop about sex and women's breasts.

Overall, Good Luck Chuck is a straightforward light American sex comedy filled with raunchy moments and a few notable laughs. With such an interesting premise, I feel that a better creative team should have been brought on-board to fulfil the film's potentiality. Obviously the film was never meant to be a masterpiece (no American comedies in this vein ever are); however with the quality of Judd Apatow productions I feel that this film left a lot to be desired. Good Luck Chuck is nothing special: this is a crude comedy with lots of sex, Jessica Alba and a decent entertainment value. If you're bored then go right ahead!

6/10

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Added by PvtCaboose91 1 month ago on 2 July 2008 08:23