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Lucky Break
Paramount Pictures

Lucky Break reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 48 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual references

Starring James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy, Lennie James, Ron Cook, Frank Harper, and Christopher Plummer

A comedy about a prison escape with a musical twist. (Paramount Pictures)


GENRE(S): Crime  
WRITTEN BY: Ronan Bennett  
DIRECTED BY: Peter Cattaneo  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: October 22, 2002 
Video: October 22, 2002 
Theatrical: April 5, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Germany / UK 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Apart from the deja vu all over again, Lucky Break is no worse a film than "Breaking Out," and "Breaking Out" was utterly charming.
Read Full Review
80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A minor comedy, though a major delight.
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There is not much here that comes as a blinding plot revelation, but the movie has a raffish charm and good-hearted characters, and like "The Full Monty" it makes good use of the desperation beneath the comedy.
Read Full Review
70
Film Threat Ron Wells
Overall, it's good, not great.
Read Full Review
70
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
It's what the Brits themselves might call fair to middling.
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70
Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
Cattaneo proceeds gamely, though without much spark, through this familiar fare, but at least Nesbitt, with his sly, oddball charm, is fun to watch.
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue
Isn't quite funny enough to make it as a comedy, or touching enough to make it as a romance. It's a pleasant effort that doesn't hit any of its targets.
Read Full Review
60
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Lightly reflective and consistently entertaining, Lucky Break is an easy-to-take diversion.
Read Full Review
60
Village Voice Ed Park
Mike Leigh mainstay Timothy Spall deftly shades in the designated goner, fellow "Still Crazy" alum Bill Nighy is sweetly wispy as the capable fop, and anger-management counselor Olivia Williams trembles pleasantly as usual.
Read Full Review
50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The big musical setpiece, rife with possibilities for humor and uplift, needed to be funnier and more energetic than the half-hearted lyrics and choreography bother to muster.
Read Full Review
50
New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
This is mostly well-constructed fluff, which is all it seems intended to be.
50
Chicago Tribune Loren King
The movie moves predictably to its feel-good finale.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Without the surprise, realism, audacity and upstart cheekiness -- pun intended -- that made "The Full Monty's" blue-collar strippers so irresistible.
50
Boston Globe Loren King
The movie moves predictably to its formulaic finale, which -- unwittingly perhaps -- reprises Plummer's own sugary classic, ''The Sound of Music.''
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Pleasing but routine British comedy.
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50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Pleasant and has not a few laughs.
Read Full Review
40
LA Weekly John Patterson
The end result is like cold porridge with only the odd enjoyably chewy lump.
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40
TV Guide Ken Fox
Neither the appealing cast nor the bouncing, ska-inflected soundtrack can keep the party going.
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33
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Every porridgy inmate in this instantly forgettable romp warbles in the prison's amateur musical, and one of them demonstrates a rather extreme devotion to the tomatoes he grows in the on-site greenhouse.
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30
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Perfectly inoffensive and harmless, but it's also drab and inert.
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30
The New York Times Dave Kehr
Mr. Cattaneo restricts himself to the smiling blandness that has become the stock in trade of British comedies made for export, turning in a film that is forced, familiar and thoroughly condescending.
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30
Variety Derek Elley
Chained to the floor by a script that isn't particularly funny, direction that goes for realism rather than stylization and an almost complete lack of comic timing.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Terry H gave it an8:
This was a great movie. Don't listen to the critics.

Mulroneycakes gave it an 8:
Oh, for crying out loud. It's. Just. A. Bit. Of. FUN. Remember fun? Where you smile? Good good good.

Discuss this movie in our forums

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