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Laramie Movie Scope:
Lucky Numbers

A merry little tale of murder and robbery

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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October 29, 2000 -- "Lucky Numbers" is an attempt at black comedy that fails, for the most part, because it lacks likeable characters and some of the actors appear to be miscast.

John Travolta, fresh off his massive critical and box office failure "Battlefield Earth," rebounds with another non-gem about a man desperate to save his house and business by any means necessary. Travolta plays Russ Richards, a well-liked weather man on a small market TV station. He's going broke because unusually warm winter weather is killing his snowmobile business. His buddy Gig (Tim Roth of "Rob Roy") who runs a strip joint persuades him to engage in a scheme to rig the state lottery.

A lottery employee, Crystal Latroy (Lisa Kudrow of "Analyze This" and "The Opposite of Sex"), agrees to get in on the scheme. She persuades her relative Walter (played by documentary filmmaker-author Michael Moore of "Roger and Me") to front for them and to cash the winning lottery ticket. A bookmaker gets wind of the deal and then Dale the Thug (Michael Rapaport of "Small Time Crooks") gets into the act. The TV station manager, Dick Simmons, (Ed O'Neill of the "Bone Collector") also figures out the scheme. Everybody wants a piece of the action. Pretty soon people start getting killed over the lottery money.

When people get killed over money, it is hard to make that funny, and this movie does not try hard enough to make that leap. "Raising Ned Devine" made that leap with a flying phone booth. This plot is not that clever. Here, we have people who are cold, calculating killers. The fact that they aren't all that smart isn't enough to make it funny in and of itself. Travolta and Kudrow also seem to be ill-suited for their roles. Travolta is a good dramatic actor but he doesn't seem to have the range to handle a role this broadly comic. He does have one good scene where he reacts to the news of the murder of one of the characters, though. Kudrow is supposed to be this pure evil ruthless person, but she seems a little too soft for the part. This character demands more edge. She's not scary, just annoying. Roth, Rapaport and O'Neill are all very good, however. Roth does the most with a very small role. One of my favorite actors, Bill Pullman of "Zero Effect," also appears in the film as a very laid back and dense cop assigned to investigate one of the murders.

There are some funny scenes in the film, but they seemed few and far between. It is almost like a situation comedy, where the situation is supposed to provide the laughs, but it doesn't. The characters aren't very appealing, either. It is all rather tasteless and flat. It rates a D.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2000 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)