A RAW DEAL IN 'LUCKY YOU'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp

Film Critic

Watching people play poker in movies is boring. You saw it in the last James Bond movie, you saw it in "Rounders," and you've seen it in any film where people stare at the cards, stare at each other, stare at their cards again, rustle their chips and then proclaim in their manliest voice, "I'm all in."

People shouldn't be allowed to use the expression "I'm all in" in a movie. Let's declare a moratorium on that and on movies that use the Internet as a key plot point. Watching people type and watching people play cards is as scintillating as seeing Enya perform a James Brown soul revue.

Knowing that going in, it's not particularly surprising that Curtis Hanson's poker movie, "Lucky You," has been bouncing around for a couple of years before finally arriving in theaters today. It's two hours long -- and a good hour is spent watching people play cards.

Since we know from the outset that half of the movie will have problems, we hope that Hanson -- the talented filmmaker behind "L.A. Confidential," "The Wonder Boys" and "8 Mile" -- has an ace up his sleeve, namely an interesting story to tell outside the card table.

But that kind of cockeyed optimism is like drawing to an inside straight. Better to fold and hope "Spider-Man 3" isn't sold out.

"Lucky You" is about a compulsive gambler named Huck (Eric Bana), still smarting from the way his father, L.C. (Robert Duvall), abandoned him for the card tables. Now both Huck and L.C. are pro poker players, and both are angling to win the 2003 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Huck needs to get over his anger, so Hanson and co-writer Eric Roth give him a rescuing angel in the form of kindhearted lounge singer Billie (Drew Barrymore). Billie inspires Huck to change his ways, a fine thought, except Billie isn't really a character so much as a construct (women have never been the filmmakers' strong suit), so it's impossible to believe she'd really get this addict to erase a lifetime of addiction overnight.

Huck, we are told by L.C., has got it backward. He plays cards the way he should lead his life and leads his life the way he should play cards. In other words, he's reckless at poker, but prudent away from it. This assessment seems to ignore the fact that Huck steals without batting an eye, owes money to organized crime and counts as his best friend a dude who gets breast implants to win a bet.

The movie's main pleasure, outside of its fine soundtrack, is watching Duvall do a variation of his patented wise old-timer routine. When he wishes Huck "good skill" before the tournament, he delivers the line backed by a lifetime of accumulated wisdom and mistakes. Duvall's conviction keeps "Lucky You" from being a bust.

A final thought: There is one movie where a card game works. You'll find it in "The Sting" when Paul Newman cleans out Robert Shaw. But it's a great scene because it's not about poker but about the waggish Newman irritating the hell out of the prickly Shaw. It's the characters, not the cards.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

[e-mail]

LUCKY YOU - Two stars

(PG-13: language, sexual humor)

Starring: Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall.

Director: Curtis Hanson.

Running time: 2 hr. 4 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Another boring poker movie, enlivened by Robert Duvall but not by an unconvincing love story.

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Photo:

A kindhearted lounge singer (Drew Barrymore) tries to change a compulsive gambler (Eric Bana) as he competes for a world poker championship in "Lucky You."