Good Luck Chuck: Cheesy, predictable, and yet somehow still fun

It's hare to believe that this movie is nearly 15 years old now and yet I am pretty sure that I watched it for the first time last night. The film did well in theaters and stand-up coming Dane Cook wasn't exactly a big star at the time either. They probably wanted someone like Matthew McConoughey to star in it but it would have cost them too much money.

I have tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible but if you enjoy going into a film knowing absolutely nothing about it, just know that I recommend this film.

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With most romantic comedies the plot isn't really necessary because these all kind of go down the same path, it is just a question of what happens in between and whether or not this ends up being entertaining or not. With Good Luck Chuck the trailer I watched barely contained Jessica Alba in them at all even though she is a rather important part of the story, instead they focus on Charlie (Dane Cook) and how he appears to have a curse on him that is actually a blessing for anyone that he dates and sleeps with. Whenever he breaks up with someone the next relationship they end up in turns out to be their perfect match and they end up getting married soon after.

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This is not a spoiler because it is in the trailer and it is defined in the first 4 minutes on the movie as well. It all stems from him being involved in a game of spin the bottle and he gets locked in the closet with a goth chick and he turns her advances down, embarrasses her and she curses him because of this. Very improbably story from the start I know, but it ends up being really good because of some important reasons.

For one thing, Charlie and Jessica Alba have great chemistry on screen and their interactions with one another have a lot of laughs in them because Cam (Alba) seems to have a curse of her own in that she is exceptionally clumsy and prone to injury because of this.

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She is constantly banging her head, knocking things over, and smashing into things. For the right kind of person this sort of literal slapstick comedy is actually pretty fun. Some call us uncultured swine but whatever man, I like that sort of stuff and it made me laugh.

The other aspect of the film that is supposed to be hilarious (I guess) is Charlie's best friend from childhood, named Stew / Stu / Stewart.

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While his over-the-top performances and constant oversexualization of basically any woman he meets is meant to be hilarious, it's too constant and therefore actually becomes quite annoying after a few scenes. I The actor who plays Stu is named Dan Fogler and I've seen him in a few things and he always seems to kind of play the same role. I suppose you could say that I don't appreciate his acting style very much.

You can see that the story is going to have a happy ending from a long way off and I don't think this is really all the different from basically every other romantic comedy that has ever been made. This one even has a last minute chase to the airport in order to salvage a relationship and just off the top of my head I can think of 2 films that this exact situation has happened in.

Despite the few negative things that I said about it being predictable this is a common attribute for rom-coms so honestly, that should be expected. While all of that is going on though, this films was entertaining enough that I never picked up my phone during the entire production and this is very rare for me. When this happens I know that I am watching something that is good. Sure, you already know the ending 15 minutes into the movie but it doesn't matter. It also has some touching moments that I think just makes you feel good.

One thing worth noting is that this movie has a ton of sex and nudity in it, so if you have kids and would prefer to avoid a bunch of uncomfortable questions, maybe save this for when they are not around. Before anyone asks, no, you do not get to see Jessica Alba naked in it, but you do get to see basically everyone else in their birthday suit including people that you would probably rather not see.

I enjoyed it a lot except for a few things that are easily outweighed by the rest of the film.