The story is quickly told. Huck Cheever (played by Eric Bana) is a young, talented Poker Player, who is sick of playing second fiddle to his own father L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall). Huck could make a decent living from the low stake games he easily beats at Las Vegas' Casinos, but wants to prove he can keep up with the real big names of the game. He actually can, but his main problem seems to be Bankroll Management. He goes broke over and over against the pros, getting incredibly unlucky. Guys, anyone who knows the feeling of a real Bad Beat will be sick watching the first half of this movie! They just overdo the Bad Luck!
Huck meets young Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore) and instantly falls in love with her. Like most poker players would do, he tries to show his honey the game and persuade her it's not luck but just skill. Well, Huck loses all of Billie's Money (without asking her) and she dumps him. His task now is to win back her heart and beat his Father at the WSOP. The rest of the Movie boils down to a classical Sport Movie. Seen it all before in many Baseball or Football Films, except this is about Poker. The entertaining bit of the Sport Movie part is the Poker Celebrity Spotting. Watching once, we spotted: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Sam Farha (With a couple of own lines! And the Oscar goes to....), Chau Giang, Mike Mattusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, Jennifer Harman (does not play herself), Cindy Violette, Jason Lester, Erik Seidel, and Erick Lindgren.
To be honest, this Poker Film won't blow anyone away. Take a run-of-the-mill Sport-Style Hollywood Movie, spice it up with some Poker, a couple of Pros, a Love Story and a difficult Father-Son relationship, and there you go: Lucky You
Our recommendation: Do not buy until the price drops way under 10 $, or borrow it from a friend.
