Friday, September 28, 2007

"Good Luck Chuck" too much

By Katie Libecco

When I saw previews for "Good Luck Chuck," I wasn't sure how much it was going to be a comedy, how much it'd be a romantic comedy.

Having seen it, I'm still not sure.

Romantic comedies generally don't have a sex scene with the girl totally nude and visible less than five minutes in. Or 40-plus very graphic sex scenes.

Still, I think it technically counts as a romantic comedy with the relationship between Jessica Alba as Cam and Dane Cook as Charlie.

The film starts with Cook getting hexed after a bad round of Seven Minutes in Heaven by a goth girl that's spitting image of me in eighth grade. From there, every girl he dates marries the next guy she dates. Hilarity ensues [in moderation.]

It's a bit of a stretch to believe Cook is a dentist, wearing jeans in the office seeing patients. And Alba basically plays Sofia Sorrano from "Vanilla Sky." Their relationship is painfully awkward. So awkward, in fact, that it's pretty uncomfortable to watch "Good Luck Chuck" at points.

Dan Fogler plays the most irritating wingman to be found as Stu. I'd love to say he was exaggerating the role, but going out in Youngstown has proved me wrong. Fogler plays the character so well, he's totally unrecognizable from this summer's earlier comedic role in "Balls of Fury."

But what could be a great romantic comedy is ruined by the exorbitant vulgarity and rampant nudity (of a lot of people you don't want to see nude.) And, what could be a great comedy is hung up severely on this relationship ordeal.

Highlights of the film come near the end, with making "pulling the friend card" a physical action and a barbershop quartet singing "Crazy in Love" behind Cook in a penguin suit. Though, despite some great slapstick moments, the film has a pretty lengthy morbidly depressing section.

Classification of movie genre aside, "Good Luck Chuck" has some good laughs and a cute love story, but is an awful date movie. Even the most down-to-Earth of girls will hate the language and naked girls, guys will probably lose their focus when it turns into a full-on "gotta get the girl" love story. Or vice versa, if we're working on breaking down stereotypes.

But everyone will love the penguins. See it for the penguins.