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Good Luck Chuck

For the sitcom originally broadcast on the Disney Channel from 2010 to 2014, see Good Luck Charlie.

Good Luck Chuck is a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by Mark Helfrich, written by Josh Stolberg, and starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba. 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.

Good Luck Chuck
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMark Helfrich
Written byJosh Stolberg
Produced byMike Karz
Starring
CinematographyAnthony B. Richmond
Edited byJulia Wong
Music byAaron Zigman
Production
company
Karz Entertainment
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • September 21, 2007 (2007-09-21)
Running time
99 minutes
101 minutes (unrated cut)
CountriesUnited States[1]
Canada[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[2]
Box office$59.8 million[3]

Good Luck Chuck was the directorial debut of Helfrich, a long-time film editor. It was released in theaters on September 21, 2007, by Lionsgate, and was panned by critics. One of its theatrical posters parodied the well-known Rolling Stone cover photographed by Annie Leibovitz featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono in similar poses.

Plot

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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".

At 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 and then makes Stu ask her out. Meanwhile, Chuck pretends to be sick, so maintains a distant 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 is 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 with her not to go, but Cam explains that she will be back on Wednesday and 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.

Cast

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Reception

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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]

Box office

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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.

Accolades

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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

Production

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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]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack was released on 18 September 2007.

  1. "I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow" (Flaming Lips)
  2. "Accident Prone" (The Honorary Title)
  3. "Good Luck Chuck" (The Dandy Warhols)
  4. "Love It When You Call" – Cherrytree House Version (The Feeling)
  5. "Good Weekend" (Art Brut)
  6. "Hurry Up Let's Go" (Shout Out Louds)
  7. "Shut Me Out" (Aidan Hawken) – 2:49
  8. "You're Gonna Get It" (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings)
  9. "The Whistle Song" (Pepper)
  10. "You Might Think" (The Cars)
  11. "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John)
  12. "Bela Lugosi's Dead" (Bauhaus)
  13. "Crazy in Love" (Antique Gold)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Good Luck Chuck". British Film Institute. 2007. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  2. ^ "Good Luck Chuck Box Office Data". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Good Luck Chuck (2007) – Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Good Luck Chuck". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  5. ^ "Good Luck Chuck (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. CBS. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  6. ^ Roger Ebert (20 September 2007). "Good Luck Chuck". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2007.
  7. ^ "Snarky Snippets From 2007 Movie Reviews". The Washington Post. December 29, 2007. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  8. ^ "Best and Worst of 2007 Kermode". YouTube. September 2010. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  9. ^ "'Resident Evil' proves zombies rule box office". Associated Press via Today.com. 23 September 2007. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
  10. ^ a b "Golden Raspberry Award Foundation". www.razzies.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Film Alberta Studios". Archived from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-02-27.
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