The Lucky Ones
Lionsgate | Release Date: September 26, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
11
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This formula is fraught with pitfalls, but the characters and the actors redeem it with a surprising emotional impact. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
This is more than the story of soldiers grappling with stress and doubt as they reenter the "normal" flow of domestic life. It's about strangers bonding, about friendship and discovery, about the comedy and tragedy of the human experience. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
This movie has its own emotional sorcery. In a raw, humorous way, it grasps how hope and desperation spur magical thinking and, sometimes, real magic. Read full review
70
The New York TimesLaura Kern
Because the lead actors work so well together, adding depth and levels of vulnerability to fairly underwritten roles, the emotional consequences of the sense of displacement these "lucky" characters -- lucky to be alive, lucky to have met one another -- must deal with always ring true. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
I'd hate to guess whether most Americans know, any more than these fictional partygoers, what soldiers go through in Iraq. But if the market for movies about the war is any indication, they don't want to. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Lucky Ones isn't dull, and the actors do quite nicely, especially McAdams, who's feisty, gorgeous, and as mercurial as a mood ring. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Like its lead characters, Lucky is wounded, lost, and impractical, but it has a messy, winning humanity and an agreeably leisurely pace that almost redeems it. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The weakest aspect of The Lucky Ones is by far the conclusion, which is flat and contrived. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Though the lead performances are uniformly good, the film seems hazy in its focus from the start. Many of the scenes seem to simply meander. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
An entertaining road movie with a topical point: The three passengers on this cross-country trip are U.S. soldiers who've just returned from Iraq. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
As close as a movie about three Iraq war soldiers should come to mediocre TV comedy. Read full review
63
PremiereStuart Levine
While the journey is somewhat bumpy and awfully contrived at times, the characters making the trek are ones we don't mind being cooped with for long stretches of highway. Read full review
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