Lucky Them
Toni Collette is a rock journalist given the impossible assignment to hunt down a long-unseen revered Seattle musician, and is joined on the road by a music-hating, aspiring documentarian (Thomas Haden Church) in this independent comedy.
"Introduces us to Ellie Klug (Collette), a veteran journalist for a music publication. Talented but hapless, appealing and irritating in equal measure, Ellie is immobilized by unaddressed issues from her past that have returned for an unexpected encore. Ellie is called up one day by her intrepid editor Giles (Oliver Platt), a man badly in need of an attention-grabbing cover story. He asks Ellie to investigate the ten-year-old disappearance of a revered local musician - who also happened to be Ellie's long-time boyfriend at the time he went missing. Having not produced anything of note lately, and knowing her job is on the line, Ellie reluctantly agrees to take the assignment, even as her erratic, booze-soaked relationships with younger musicians continue to clutter her life." (Toronto International Film Festival)
2013Rating: M, Violence, offensive language & sex scenes97 minsUSA
DramaMusic
- Director:
- Megan Griffiths ('Eden', 'The Off Hours')
- Writer:
- Huck BotkoEmily Wachtel
- Cast:
- Toni ColletteThomas Haden ChurchOliver PlattRyan EggoldNina AriandaAhna O'ReillyJohnny DeppJoanne Woodward
Lucky Them / Reviews
Urban Cinefile
The undulating manner in which the relationships rise and fall is beautifully managed but it is Collette and Church who deliver gold.
Full reviewThe New York Times
While Ms. Collette grounds Ellie and her emotions in a tough-minded plausibility, she can only hint at what the script fails to deliver: the complexities of a flawed woman's midlife crisis.
Full review
The Dissolve
Here's a 41-year-old woman in a layered, complex role, in a film that's at least as interested in her evolution as it is in that of the male characters surrounding her.
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The Australian
Collette and co-star Thomas Haden Church elevate this no-frills but intelligent story into something well worth seeing.
Full review
Sydney Morning Herald
A study of the perils of nostalgia... comes off as a throwback to an earlier era of low-key, whimsical US independent cinema. This is not a bad thing, considering the talents of the cast.
Full review
Seattle Times
Has that rare gift: It leaves its audiences warm and happy, as the best romantic comedies do.
Full review
FilmInk
Wachtel initially wrote the script for TV, and it shows -- long-term plot lines are teased at, only to be swiftly resolved without the chance to play out.
Full review
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