SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: JUST MY LUCK

"JUST MY LUCK"
(2006) (Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Mild	Moderate	Minor	None

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	None	None	Mild	Mild

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Moderate	None	None	Moderate	Moderate

QUICK TAKE:: Comedy: An incredibly lucky young woman tries to get her luck back after it's been accidentally transferred via a kiss to a previously unlucky guy.

PLOT:

Ashley Albright (LINDSAY LOHAN) has been lucky all of her life. Whether it's avoiding the rain, getting an elevator all to herself or meeting some handsome guy, things always seem to go her way, much to the amazement of her friends Maggie (SAMAIRE ARMSTRONG) and Dana (BREE TURNER). They all work for Peggy Braden (MISSI PYLE) at her PR firm, where lady luck visits Ashley once again.

Music mogul Damon Phillips (FAIZON LOVE) and his entourage have arrived for a meeting with Peggy, but when she and everyone else ends up stuck in the elevator, Ashley takes it upon herself to pitch an idea to him. He loves it, Peggy is impressed, and soon Ashley is planning a swanky party, and even asking her handsome neighbor Antonio (CARLOS PONCE) to be Peggy's blind date.

If only things went so smoothly for Jake Hardin (CHRIS PINE). A bowling alley employee who spends time with his fourth grader cousin Katy (MAKENZIE VEGA) when not serving as the audio mixer and manager for the British band McFly, he's been trying to get a demo into Damon's hands. But, being the unlucky sort, he doesn't have a chance.

That is, until he inadvertently crashes Ashley's masquerade party as one of the hired dancers and tries to meet Damon. That doesn't happen until he and Ashley end up kissing on the dance floor. Suddenly, all of her luck is transferred to him, he ends up saving the mogul's life, and Ashley loses her job when the party takes an unexpected turn for the worse.

Once Ashley realizes what happened, she tries to find the masked dancer who kissed her and stole all of her luck, unaware that Jake isn't one of them. From that point on, and as their paths cross once again, the two try to deal with their ever-changing luck.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Tween and early teenage girls are the most likely audience, and they and fans of anyone in the cast may want to see it.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For some brief sexual references.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: LINDSAY LOHAN plays a young woman whose life of good luck vanishes when it's transferred to Jake via a kiss. She then has a run of bad luck (and general clueless behavior regarding common sense things) as she tries to find him and get her luck back. She uses a little bit of profanity and kisses Jake on various occasions.
CHRIS PINE plays a perpetually unlucky guy whose fortunes change when Ashley's luck is magically transferred over to him. He then becomes successful, but stays true to himself. He briefly uses profanity and kisses Ashley several times.
SAMAIRE ARMSTRONG and BREE TURNER play Ashley's best friends who can't believe how lucky she is until all of that evaporates. They then try to help her find the guy to get her luck back.
FAIZON LOVE plays a successful music mogul who gives Jake a break after the aspiring band manager saves his life. A bit demanding, he helps Jake and the band reach greater levels of success.
MISSI PYLE plays Ashley's boss who's upset with her when an event takes an unexpected turn, but is happy that Antonio is in her life (and fools around a bit with him).
CARLOS PONCE plays Ashley's dashing neighbor who she gets to go on a blind date with Peggy but turns out to be a male prostitute (but Peggy keeps him anyway).
MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.; CHRIS PINE plays a perpetually unlucky guy whose fortunes change when Ashley's luck is magically transferred over to him. He then becomes successful, but stays true to himself. He briefly uses profanity and kisses Ashley several times.
SAMAIRE ARMSTRONG and BREE TURNER play Ashley's best friends who can't believe how lucky she is until all of that evaporates. They then try to help her find the guy to get her luck back.
FAIZON LOVE plays a successful music mogul who gives Jake a break after the aspiring band manager saves his life. A bit demanding, he helps Jake and the band reach greater levels of success.
MISSI PYLE plays Ashley's boss who's upset with her when an event takes an unexpected turn, but is happy that Antonio is in her life (and fools around a bit with him).
CARLOS PONCE plays Ashley's dashing neighbor who she gets to go on a blind date with Peggy but turns out to be a male prostitute (but Peggy keeps him anyway).
MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.; SAMAIRE ARMSTRONG and BREE TURNER play Ashley's best friends who can't believe how lucky she is until all of that evaporates. They then try to help her find the guy to get her luck back.
FAIZON LOVE plays a successful music mogul who gives Jake a break after the aspiring band manager saves his life. A bit demanding, he helps Jake and the band reach greater levels of success.
MISSI PYLE plays Ashley's boss who's upset with her when an event takes an unexpected turn, but is happy that Antonio is in her life (and fools around a bit with him).
CARLOS PONCE plays Ashley's dashing neighbor who she gets to go on a blind date with Peggy but turns out to be a male prostitute (but Peggy keeps him anyway).
MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.; FAIZON LOVE plays a successful music mogul who gives Jake a break after the aspiring band manager saves his life. A bit demanding, he helps Jake and the band reach greater levels of success.
MISSI PYLE plays Ashley's boss who's upset with her when an event takes an unexpected turn, but is happy that Antonio is in her life (and fools around a bit with him).
CARLOS PONCE plays Ashley's dashing neighbor who she gets to go on a blind date with Peggy but turns out to be a male prostitute (but Peggy keeps him anyway).
MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.; MISSI PYLE plays Ashley's boss who's upset with her when an event takes an unexpected turn, but is happy that Antonio is in her life (and fools around a bit with him).
CARLOS PONCE plays Ashley's dashing neighbor who she gets to go on a blind date with Peggy but turns out to be a male prostitute (but Peggy keeps him anyway).
MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.; CARLOS PONCE plays Ashley's dashing neighbor who she gets to go on a blind date with Peggy but turns out to be a male prostitute (but Peggy keeps him anyway).
MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.; MAKENZIE VEGA plays Jake's somewhat precocious cousin in the fourth grade who briefly uses a bit of profanity.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

Here's a brief summary of the content found in this comedy that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 3 "s" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are used. Non-explicit, but sexually related dialogue is present (as are presumably some lyrics in a song), as are various scenes of people passionately kissing/making out. Varying amounts of cleavage are present, as are some bits of sexually-based comedy (including a minor character turning out to be a male prostitute).

Several scenes include crude humor (excrement, vomiting, etc.), while various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, and some of the behavior that's present may be enticing for some kids to imitate. Some drinking occurs, as does various forms of slapstick style material, while a prisoner twice punches the protagonist in the face (in separate scenes), and a person is hit by a car (but is okay, and it's all played lightly and/or for comedy).

If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Jake tells some men who've come to see the band that there are cocktails for them.
We see bottles of champagne at Ashley's big party for Damon and then see some people with glasses of it.
Damon's assistant informs Jake that the bar is fully stocked.
Ashley's date's snooty mother says that if she's going to listen to this, she needs vodka (and we then see her and her adult son holding drinks).
Various people celebrate with champagne and we see Damon holding an enormous bottle of it.
Jake sprays others with champagne to celebrate.

BLOOD/GORE: Damon picks up his dog's excrement with a $5 bill and throws it away. Moments later, Jake finds it, thinking it's his lucky day and pockets it. But he then reacts to getting the excrement on his hand and rushes to wash it off.
As Damon talks about how much money he makes per hour, he realizes that "even when I go poo-poo" he's generating income, prompting one of his assistants to say "That's some expensive sh*t."
Bird excrement lands on Jake's clothed shoulder.
Asked about her horoscope, Ashley hears, "Your mood is in Uranus."
Ashley loses her contact and it lands in the litter box where we see cat excrement. She then picks it up and puts it directly into her eye without washing it (and then has a painful reaction -- played for comedy).
Seeing a piece of "art" where what looks like mud is flowing down a tube and into a big pile on the floor, Ashley comments that it looks like it came out of the rear end of an elephant.
Ashley reacts to the bad smell coming from the men's room that she's supposed to clean.
As part of her new job, Ashley scrapes gum from underneath a table and one such piece lands in her mouth.
Due to being nervous, one band member vomits into a trash can, with another saying that's a good idea and then doing the same (we see the motion, and hear the sounds, but don't see the actual acts).
Trying to find their missing drummer, one band guy searches through the men's room (we see several men standing at urinals) and one yells out "pervert" from a closed stall after that guy peeks over the door and then reacts to the smell.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Ashley and her friends/coworkers refer to their boss as the "dragon lady."
Ashley keeps Sarah Jessica Parker's clothes when they're incorrectly delivered to her.
When asked if he's one of the dancers hired for a party, Jake lies and says he is so that he can get inside.
Some viewers may not like scenes featuring a tarot card reader (who foresees Ashley's change in luck).
A female prisoner in jail is mean to Ashley and punches her in the face (seen from Ashley's POV).
Damon quickly becomes angry/perturbed at Jake when something doesn't go right and essentially threatens to derail his budding career if things aren't fixed immediately.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Seeing a cab headed for Damon, Jake pushes him out of the way, but takes the brunt of the impact (breaking the windshield), although he's okay after that.
One of Ashley's friends has to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her (to cause an olive to pop out of her mouth/throat - played for comedy).

GUNS/WEAPONS: None.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "That's some expensive sh*t," "SOL" ("Sh*t out of luck"), "We don't have sh*t," "Damn, that's a lot of money," "Dragon lady," "When they whacked you with that lucky stick, they whacked you good," "(What a) loser," "Holy crap," "You're the luckiest son of a gun I've ever seen," "What the hell /is going on/is that/is this?" "Are you insane?" "Screwed everything up," "That little whacked kissing bandit," "Your mood is in Uranus," "She's the bitch, I'm the nice one," "Oh my God, I'm like a coyote," "Are you nuts?" "That sucks," "Who's your boy?" "Bird" (woman), "Looks like a tramp," "I'm a pathetic disaster," "We don't have shoot," "I wrote you a kick ass song," "Iron tush man," "Oh bollocks," "Stoked," "Pervert," "Hell yeah," "Freak," "This is gonna kick," "Tonsil hockey," "I've been slimed" and "No freaking way."
Jake's fourth-grader cousin Katy shows that someone super-glued something to her face (and Jake uses fingernail polish or something similar to remove it).
Some kids may be enticed to purchase and play those scratch-off lottery tickets as that's what Ashley and her friends do to test her luck.
After a hair dryer catches on fire, Ashley throws it into the bathtub and runs water on it, causing electrical shorting (and all of the power to go out - played for comedy).
A miscellaneous guy has a tattoo.
Dana uses two hands to draw the outline of a heart while telling Ashley, "I love you."
Trying to distract others about what she's doing at an art exhibit (when she's really kissing another dancer to see if he's the one who stole her luck), Ashley pounds on his chest as if trying to resuscitate him (played for laughs).
Some kids may be inspired to load up a washer with extra soap to create and overflow of suds.
Jake sprays others with champagne to celebrate.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): A song has the female singer's repeated references to "my goodies" and there's a mention of "sexy" in the lyrics (there are other lyrics, but they're in the background under character dialogue and thus couldn't be heard in full).

PROFANITY: At least 3 "s" words, 4 hells, 2 asses (1 used with "hole"), 2 damns, 1 bollocks, 1 crap, 1 incomplete S.O.B., 13 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use of "God."

SEX/NUDITY: Jake accidentally knocks down a girl and tries to help her up, but she thinks he's an attacker. Due to his pants having split, they then fall down (we see him in his boxers) and she kicks him in the crotch. Seeing all of this and thinking the wrong thing, a cop then races up and tackles Jake to the ground, cuffing him.
Ashley shows varying amounts of cleavage (sometimes a lot) in the various outfits she wears (some of which are low-cut).
We see Ashley in small shorts and a top as she's trying to decide what to wear.
After Ashley's date with a rich and handsome young man, one of her friends asks, "So, did you..." (presumably referring to sex). Ashley says that they kissed and when asked if it was one of those you feel in your toes, Ashley replies that it was good enough for him to ask for a second date.
About Peggy, Antonio says something about anything else would cost extra (which -- Spoiler Alert -- later makes sense when we hear he's a male prostitute).
Peggy playfully squeezes Antonio's clothed butt. Later, and in a semi-private area of a club (isolated by a partially see-thru curtain), Antonio nuzzles on her neck, she rips open the top of his shirt (we don't see anything) and pushes him down to some furniture and then gets on top of him (both are clothed and we don't see anything else).
Jake and Ashley (who've just met) have a long kiss on the dance floor.
Ashley's dress splits at a big party, with her friend saying it's a good thing Ashley's wearing underwear (as we see a brief and partial view of her panty strap).
We hear that Antonio is a male prostitute and thus Peggy (who was with him) and Ashley (who set them up) are arrested.
Damon's assistant, Tiffany, shows cleavage and comes on to Jake.
A song has the female singer's repeated references to "my goodies" and there's a mention of "sexy" in the lyrics (there are other lyrics, but they're in the background under character dialogue and thus couldn't be heard in full).
To try to get her luck back, Ashley must go through all of the male dancers that were at her shindig and kiss them. Looking at their photos, Dana comments about how "hot" they are. We then see a montage of Ashley doing just that, including a just married groom (whose wife is understandably upset). After they discover that one of them isn't the guy, we then see Dana making out with him. Later, Ashley kisses a guy in a sauna (where he and other men are seen in just towels). After she leaves, and since his face was covered, he happily thinks it was another guy in the sauna with him (but that man covers his own face with a towel to avoid any contact with him).
We see some formfitting, flesh-colored outfits on male and female dancers at a modern art exhibit.
Damon's assistant shows more cleavage, and when Ashley incorrectly thinks she's Jake's girlfriend, she mutters, "Looks like a tramp."
Ashley stares at Jake who's briefly shirtless while changing his shirt.
Ashley kisses Jake to get her luck back.
Peggy pats Antonio on his clothed butt and refers to him as an "iron tush man."
Katy spots Ashley and Jake kissing and refers to it as playing tonsil hockey.

SMOKING: None.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The notion of being lucky or unlucky.
Tarot cards and readers.
One of Ashley's friends has to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her (to cause an olive to pop out of her mouth/throat - played for comedy).
We hear that Antonio is a male prostitute and thus Peggy (who was with him) and Ashley (who set them up) are arrested.
The comment that if you dwell on the bad things in life, you miss out on the good ones.

VIOLENCE: Jake accidentally knocks down a girl and tries to help her up, but she thinks he's an attacker. Due to his pants having split, they then fall down (we see him in his boxers) and she kicks him in the crotch. Seeing all of this and thinking the wrong thing, a cop then races up and tackles Jake to the ground, cuffing him.
Jake gets shocked at his audio console (played for laughs).
Seeing a cab headed for Damon, Jake pushes him out of the way, but takes the brunt of the impact (breaking the windshield), although he's okay after that.
A female prisoner in jail is mean to Ashley and punches her in the face (seen from Ashley's POV).
Ashley returns home to find that her apartment is ruined from a massive flood, and the bottom of the lone surviving box falls open in the elevator, causing the items in it to hit the floor and break.
Ashley's hair gets caught in a hair dryer, prompting her to react and accidentally break the mirror with it. The dryer then shorts out and catches on fire, so Ashley throws it into the bathtub and runs water on it, causing more shorting (and all of the power to go out - played for comedy).
Ashley accidentally runs into a plate glass window (but is okay).
Trying to distract others about what she's doing at an art exhibit (when she's really kissing another dancer to see if he's the one who stole her luck), Ashley pounds on his chest as if trying to resuscitate him (played for laughs).
Ashley trips and falls in a pile of mud (slapstick style).
We see Ashley's POV as the above inmate punches her in the face in a later scene.
Ashley throws some salt over her shoulder that accidentally lands in a man's eyes, causing him pain (played for comedy).
Ashley accidentally causes a row of bowling balls to fall and crash through a display case.
Trying to change a fluorescent light bulb, Ashley gets shocked and falls from her ladder, but Jake is there to catch her.
Ashley slips in a bunch of soap suds on the floor (slapstick style).
A guitar string breaks and whacks another guy in the eye (but he's okay).
A champagne cork pops off and hits Ashley on the head.

Reviewed May 9, 2006 / Posted May 12, 2006

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.