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Lucky Numbers

2000, Movie, R, 108 mins

Lucky Numbers: Review

LUCKY NUMBERS
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Amusing and at times uproarious, this caper comedy about a small-city celebrity turned reluctant felon would've made a great vehicle for Don Knotts in the 1960s. While John Travolta never quite reaches that total mix of panic and hapless "why-me?" desperation, he's charming and funny enough as a well-meaning weatherman who stumbles into larceny, and his deer-in-the-headlights freeze at one crucial moment is hilarious. TV weather forecaster Russ Richards (Travolta) is the prince of Harrisburg, PA, with his own roped-off table at Denny's. He adores playing the nice-guy celebrity because he is a nice guy. But when hard times hit his snowmobile dealership, Russ halfheartedly agrees to a "victimless" insurance scam with Gig (Tim Roth), his improbably British friend. (Gig is a strip-club owner for no apparent story reason other than an excuse to include filler shots of semi-naked dancers.) The break-in, of course, goes awry, and poor Russ gets sucked into a spiral of crime and embarrassment, starting with a rigged lottery-drawing scheme involving the TV station's icily ambitious lottery-ball bimbo, Crystal Latroy (Lisa Kudrow), and her religious perv cousin (filmmaker Michael Moore). Soon a blackmailing bookie (Richard Schiff), a greedy station manager (the ever-reliable Ed O'Neill) and a whiny cop (Bill Pullman) are flying around the periphery. Director Nora Ephron is at her comedic best when she's wringing laughs out of polite dialogue in impolite situations: Here, those situations mostly involve one Dale the Thug (a terrifically dense and dangerous Michael Rapaport). But the caper itself never snaps, never jumps and never moves faster than a power walk. And while the real-life incident on which the story's loosely based — the Pennsylvania State Lottery "666 Fix" — did take place in the 1980s, there's no other reason for the film to be set in 1988; Ephron makes no effort to capture the era. Still, it's funny enough and well-played, and you have to give credit to any movie that finds perfect visual counterpoints to both "We Are the Champions" and "Mack the Knife." leave a comment --Frank Lovece
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