No luck 'Chuck'

By Tanner Boyd

Published Sept. 28, 2007

The romantic comedy is a genre that has long suffered from lack of creativity. Gone are the days of "When Harry Met Sally" and tongue-in-cheek Woody Allen's portrayals of love and sex. Instead, audiences are fed mush-filled celluloid crap such as "Good Luck Chuck."

"Good Luck Chuck" takes the average, mundane elements of said genre and boosts them to levels that are too crazy for reality and too stupid for parody. The film tries to inject the typical rom-com with sex and nudity, but the weak plot and unsympathetic characters can't effectively maintain the balance. Walking the thin line between heart and horniness requires tact, and when done right — as in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" — producers can score a Hollywood touchdown. Instead, "Good Luck Chuck" fumbles the ball at the line of scrimmage, and neither the writers nor actors seem to care.

Love him or hate him, comedian Dane Cook stars as Chuck, a man with a "curse" that causes women to find their true loves after sleeping with him. At first, our hero sees this gift as community service and the chance to spread joy — and possibly crabs — but Chuck soon gets nervous when he meets clumsy Cam (Jessica Alba). Hilarity does not ensue as Chuck tries to keep Cam all to himself.

The writers follow the love story playbook when it comes to character development. Chuck is your typical male lead: He is charming, funny and has an occupation that serves the community — in this case, a dentist. Naturally, Chuck must have a sexed-up guy pal to play devil's advocate. Dan Fogler plays the scoundrel this time around, but he comes off too cartoonish to be genuinely funny. We get it; he is supposed to be the funny pervert. You do not need to make him a breast enhancement specialist to prove it. Alba's character is thrust into über-cuteness by making Cam sweet, ditzy and a penguin-fanatic.

These outlandish exaggerations would be funny if "Good Luck Chuck" used them to exploit the genre cleverly, but the whole film is uninspired trash. There are more effective ways to get the audience to feel sorry for Chuck than to have him sit in the pouring rain. Overused gimmicks waterlog the script into boorish, "been there, done that" predictability.

The main reason comedians fail at acting is because scripts do not adhere to the routines fans come to expect. When Cook tells his "Kool-Aid Man" bit, he is funny, but when he is dressed as a penguin, not so much. The only times comedians thrive in film are when movies are tailored around them, but even that gets tiresome (Jim Carrey and soon-to-be Will Ferrell). Cook could write a script that caters to him and his comedic styling, but it is a small niche audience that can handle an hour and a half of jokes about "the shocker."

For Cook, the question is not, "Who shit on the coats?" but rather, "Who shit on my movie?" To find the answer, he need only look in the mirror.