Michael Osadciw
Screenwriter
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- Real Name
- Michael Osadciw
JUST MY LUCK
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Film Year: 2006
Length: 103 minutes
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Aspect Ratio:
Side A: 1.33:1 fullscreen
Side B: 1.85:1 widescreen enhanced
Colour/B&W: Colour
Audio:
English
5.1 SurroundSpanish
2.0 SurroundFrench
2.0 SurroundSubtitles: English & Spanish
Film Rating:
Release Date: August 22, 2006.
Film Rating: :star: :star:
Starring: Lindsay Lohan (Ashley Albright), Chris Pine (Jake Hardin), Faizon Love (Damon Philips), Missi Pyle (Peggy Braden), Bree Turner (Dana), Samaire Armstrong (Maggie), McFly (music group)
Screenplay by: I. Marlene King & Amy Harris
Directed by: Donald Petrie
Good luck charm. Bad luck magnet.
Ashley Albright is the luckiest girl in the world. No matter what she does, where she goes, or who she meets, she gets the best of everything. Her girlfriends are so jealous because how could one person in the world have so much good luck?
On the reverse side of the good luck charm is Jake Hardin, a down-in-his-luck toilet bowl cleaner at the local Rock & Bowl. No matter what he does, he’s a Charlie Brown and everything he touches gets ruined. But he’s determined to do one thing right: to get the head of a major record label to listen to a band he’s managing in hopes he will sign them on.
As she instantly finds out after a Tarot card reading, luck is about to run out for Ashley when she meets Jake at a masquerade party she arranged for the record label and media. He wasn’t invited but manages to fake his way in. So Jake, masked in disguise as a dancer, asks Ashley to dance as a cover for his real motive and the two strangers find themselves in arms dancing with each other and locking lips. It is at this point when their fortunes reverse – from then on Ashley is in the dumps with luck and Jake gets all of his wishes and much more. Ashley becomes determined to get her luck back, but it’s finding this stranger again that will make it difficult for her. Maybe with a little bit of luck, one of them will find the other again.
The film is a teenage girly flick that will find a home. The story is clichéd especially with names like “Albright” and “Hardin” for the main characters but it does have a few funny moments. This movie also seems like a big plug for British pop rock group McFly who, in my opinion, are terrible based on their songs in this film. Their sound is not unique as they are a dime a dozen today and I believe the film gave them too much play time. McFly fans rejoice!
VIDEO QUALITY :star: :star: :star: :star:
Aside from looking a little dimmer than other titles, this transfer is free from film blemishes, edge enhancement, and most compression artefacts. Mosquito noise is noticed around edge transitions but aside from that this film looks solid. I watched this movie without ever thinking about the quality of the video – and that’s a good thing. That means it passed my approval from the start. All aspects of the video from contrast, colour, and resolution looked accurate for SD-DVD.
The aspect ratio is widescreen enhanced 1.85:1. Most of the “black bar” is at the top of the image. A full screen version is on Side A of the disc.
AUDIO QUALITY :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:Delivered in Dolby Digital 5.1, the film has a mediocre sound design that is, for the most part, not involving. Most of the film’s sound effects are emit from the center channel. Crowd cheering and music is the main sound in the left and right channels featuring a mixture of pop and the film score. I found all of the music in this film to be terrible; the young Brit pop-rock songs are terrible and sound like every other terrible pop song. The film’s score complements the pop tunes nicely; they don’t sound alike, but I could bet a million bucks that I’ve heard a score similar to this in every other romantic comedy. Conclusion: it’s uncreative, boring, and has a sound that is interchangeable with so many other films.
FYI, the surround channels did little to expand the soundstage around the listener. I think there were many opportunities to do this in the scenes in the busy city, in the rain, and other active environments. LFE is non-existent. I didn’t notice a single moment in the film when it was active. Bass is active in the front three channels so don’t worry, the film sounds balanced to not sound tinny. Dialogue was always exceptionally clear although it sounds just a bit too up front from the main channels.
For at least the first 10 minutes of the film (I stopped counting after that) high frequency noise (I’m guessing 17kHz and up) pollutes the left and right channels and hovers quietly in the background over the soundtrack. It disappeared after a while and didn’t return. Thank goodness because I’m sensitive to high frequency and having a constant noise like that is bothersome. I also noticed three instances of a medium-volume digital-like “snap” in the sound; I could reproduce over and over by rewinding to that moment again so I know it’s on the disc. It may be a problem on the printmaster.
TACTILE FUN!! ZERO / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
TRANSDUCER ON/OFF?: OFF
Tactile ratings are based on the information in the dedicated LFE channel only. Bass from any other channel has not been rerouted to the LFE. For “shaking” purposes, I’m interested only in the bass the LFE provides to enhance the bass in all other channels. It also gives me a good indication of how much of that “.1 LFE” channel is used on each film. A Clark Synthesis TST-429 is used on an AudioSource AMP5.3, an AudioQuest Diamondback interconnect and Crankin’ Cable 12-awg speaker wire.
No LFE = no tactile effects unless you sum the bass from all other channels to LFE.
SPECIAL FEATURES :star:
On the widescreen side, there is an 8.5-minute featurette titledMcFly: Behind the Scenes. It’s all about the Brit band McFly and how the director filmed a few key scenes with the band. It also plays out the band playing live for the film’s ending with the eye of the behind the scenes camera.
The rest of the special features must be accessed on Side A of the DVD. There are just two here, one being 6.5 minutes of deleted scenes including Sushi Restaurant, Bank, and Mailcart. These scenes feature more of Ashley down in her luck and I’m happy they were deleted. While they aren’t terribly bad, it would have just made the film longer and emphasised even more that things just aren’t the same for her. There is no play all option for these scenes. They are non-enhanced widescreen and have time code on the screen.
The final and short featurette (2.37) is titled Look of Luck and quickly talks about the clothing used on the characters in the film and how it relates to their lucky and unlucky status.
IN THE END…
Just My Luck is a heart-y comedy that Lindsay Lohan and McFly fans will enjoy, or any other girl under 17 years old. It’s rated PG-13 for language so watch out for the little guys that watch this movie. In all, it was mildly entertaining and worth a single viewing.
Michael Osadciw
August 17, 2006.
