The Lucky Ones (2008)

Fred Cheaver, played by Tim Robbins, is returning home from military service. He is now retired and looking forward to seeing his wife and son.

T.K. Poole, played by Michael Pena and Colee Dunn, played by Rachel McAdams are also United States army soldiers who are returning home on leave. Colee’s boyfriend was a soldier who was killed while saving her life. She plans to visit his family and give them a guitar her boyfriend said was part of his family. T.K. has a fiancé, but is concerned about having impotency problems. He’s even thinking of finding a prostitute to help him out.

The three of these soldiers meet up when their flights are canceled. They rent a car and drive off to their first destination, Fred’s home. It’s obvious Fred’s wife isn’t as happy to see him as Fred is to see her. He’s awestruck when she tells him she wants a divorce.

Fred’s son is ecstatic to see his dad and tells him the great news that he’s been accepted at Stanford University. Unfortunately, Fred needs to come up with an additional $20,000 over the scholarship for his son to secure his position at Stanford.

Colee meets her boyfriend’s parents. They are a quiet couple, but invite Colee to stay with them while she’s on leave. She gets a painful surprise that helps her make the choice not to stay.

Each of the three characters has plans, but none of them go quite the way they wanted. The Lucky Ones is a rather slow moving film, but the characters capture your attention. Throughout the movie, the characters are a strong support for each other. There is a comedic aspect, but I wouldn’t classify this as a true comedy.