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Critic Reviews
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With an impossibly good cast, writing so spot-on it's poetic, and slow-build stories, I, for one, was left wanting more--even after watching the entire season.
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"Deadwood" fans already know that Milch doesn't make it easy for viewers to get a purchase on his series, but for those willing to do the work, Luck, pays off.
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There are three excellent reasons--Milch, Mann and Hoffman--why your faith will be rewarded.
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I suspect Luck will need its own kind of good fortune to persuade HBO Subscribers to get on its wavelength--to go with the undulating rhythm of its storytelling. But it's worth the effort. [3/10 Feb 2012, p.104]
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It's clear and engaging and moving to this novice.
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Asking viewers to simply look his characters in the eye, Milch has created an infuriatingly but genuinely moving drama.
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Luck is a true original, a show with a tone like no other. [30 Jan 2012, p.43]
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You should give Luck a chance to slowly pay off. It proudly depicts a gritty/picturesque world that the ABC Family channel's Wildfire only airbrushed during its 2005-08 run.
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With Milch holding the reins, Luck seems a lock for the winner's circle.
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What keeps these threads tight and advances the action is the input of Michael Mann, who directed the pilot and set the tone for the rest of the nine-episode first season.
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Luck too is far from perfect, but I found a lot to love in its rough edges.
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I've seen all nine episodes of Luck's first season and I still don't know how to place a bet, much less pick a winner. But when the carousel finally stopped turning, I couldn't wait to buy another ticket.
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Strong writing and acting ensure that we soon become so sensitive to the characters that we feel for them the way they feel for their horses.
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Luck is a smart and ambitious series that looks to truly pay off in the home stretch.
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Luck is a sometimes confusing yet fascinating study of the colorful characters--the jockeys, trainers, owners, gamblers and railbirds--who populate horse-racing tracks.
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Luck can be maddeningly inscrutable but it becomes less so over time.
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There are great performances from Gedrick and Dunn as leaders of a gambling quartet, and good work all around.
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Viewers who appreciate slow-moving stories set in gritty, somewhat sleazy environments with characters of questionable morals are most likely to be rewarded by betting on Luck.
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For these all-too-brief moments of sheer visceral exhilaration, all of the related backroom machinations, self-destructive manipulation, and blithe dishonesty of the characters seem completely justified.
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If you make it to the end, the payoff is sweeter for the suffering. In the meanwhile, enjoy each scene on its own merits, which are not inconsiderable.
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The parts that do work possess the doom-laden yet strangely optimistic romanticism of Milch's best work.
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Pretty good, yes; but great, no--or at least not great in that Sunday-night way HBO has led people to take for granted.
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It's a scattershot approach that ultimately undermines what is admirable about Luck, including some gorgeous photography.
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At this point, [it's] somewhere between a long shot and a lock.
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The plot is as stubbornly slow-burning as Hoffman's sharply reined-in performance and ultimately far less inspired.
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Luck is suffused with brilliant acting and amazing scenes, but in a few unfortunate ways, it remains impenetrable almost until its last hour.
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Luck--for all its quirky exchanges and marquee performers--proves at best a photo finish as to whether it's worth the effort.
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This nine-episode series is maddeningly and needlessly opaque, and so deferential to the rites and rituals of the track that the storytelling is labored and even joyless.
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When it comes to story, unfortunately, Luck is a drag.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 27 out of 37
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Mixed: 4 out of 37
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Negative: 6 out of 37
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Feb 8, 2012
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Jan 29, 2012
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Jan 30, 2012