The Lucky Ones
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams & Michael Peña
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rated: R
Tag line: Three strangers with nothing to lose. And everything to find. & Sometimes losing your way home means finding yourself.
Amazon rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 starsMy rating: 5 stars
Plot: After returning to the country to see all their flights have been canceled, three US soldiers journey on a cross country road trip where they not see the country they're fighting for, but also finding themselves.
Review: Being stranded is the metaphor. It means we are stuck in our situations, with no way out. It means that we are lost in this world, watching the daily grind pass us by without any real hope that we will one day belong again. It's very much what many of our service men and 
women face the moment their tour is over, or when on leave. It's the question of what now. It's the honest to god fear that we do not know which move to make next, or what we can do with our lives. I can only imagine it is much worse for those who have been gone for months only to be in a country that does not want them, and will do anything to remove them from their midst. So what happens after the war? What happens when they come home? What happens when these brave men and women find themselves in a strange land they once called home?
Finding himself with a Jacob Barnes wound, T.K. Poole (Michael Peña) lies in a hospital room in Germany wondering what next. His tour - his third tour - is far from over and being sent home is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because he'll have time off from the havoc that has become the Iraqi war, but a curse because he finds himself
less of a man. Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams), shot in the leg, has experienced a near death experience during the war which cost the life of her friend, whose guitar she totes around. Having had a falling out with her own family, Colee hopes that the guitar she now possesses will somehow connect her with them. Fred Cheaver (Tim Robbins) is a through with his tour, heading home for good. Suffering with a back injury by a fluke accident that saved his life, his only wish is to see his family again, be in the arms of his loving wife. The three believe to only have one thing in common, survival of a war that is both loved and hated by the country they've vowed to protect.
But T.K.'s injury mentally cripples him. Rather than seeing his 30-day leave as something of a blessing that he can spend his off time with his girlfriend, he heads for Vegas in the hopes that the women who handle "special cases" such as his can revive his manhood, sealing the deal that he has with his non soul mate. Fred is stricken by the reality that nothing is as he left it. His wife wants a divorce; his son has a chance at Stanford, but cannot foot the rest of the bill, choosing instead of enlisting in the army. And Colee is constantly being reminded by her male compatriots that her illusion of a perfect reuniting
with a family she's never met before is just a fabrication of a little girl's dream and a pathological liar's tall tales. So that scene in the airport, where they find themselves stranded in New York stands for more than just being stranded in an airport, obviously.
The only logical solution for their strandedness is to escape - to ride off into the night, heading for St. Louis where the slew of bad news beings. There is no hope in this story. There are no true happy endings. All we have is one misfortune after another, allowing for each of the three major characters of this heartfelt, American movie, to change - to see themselves for the first time, not as soldiers, not has husband, father, son, daughter, lover or any other social clique we are placed in, but as themselves.
The actors are realistic in the roles. Rachel McAdams delivers a lovable Colee Dunn; Michael Peña creates the mean-spirited, bitter, yet caring T.K. Poole; and Tim Robbins, the man who has the hardest part, in my opinion, brings the hopeful and heartbroken Fred Cheaver to life. It's a movie for anyone who has ever served, or has family serving to enjoy. And the rest of us to grow with.
women face the moment their tour is over, or when on leave. It's the question of what now. It's the honest to god fear that we do not know which move to make next, or what we can do with our lives. I can only imagine it is much worse for those who have been gone for months only to be in a country that does not want them, and will do anything to remove them from their midst. So what happens after the war? What happens when they come home? What happens when these brave men and women find themselves in a strange land they once called home?Finding himself with a Jacob Barnes wound, T.K. Poole (Michael Peña) lies in a hospital room in Germany wondering what next. His tour - his third tour - is far from over and being sent home is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because he'll have time off from the havoc that has become the Iraqi war, but a curse because he finds himself
less of a man. Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams), shot in the leg, has experienced a near death experience during the war which cost the life of her friend, whose guitar she totes around. Having had a falling out with her own family, Colee hopes that the guitar she now possesses will somehow connect her with them. Fred Cheaver (Tim Robbins) is a through with his tour, heading home for good. Suffering with a back injury by a fluke accident that saved his life, his only wish is to see his family again, be in the arms of his loving wife. The three believe to only have one thing in common, survival of a war that is both loved and hated by the country they've vowed to protect.But T.K.'s injury mentally cripples him. Rather than seeing his 30-day leave as something of a blessing that he can spend his off time with his girlfriend, he heads for Vegas in the hopes that the women who handle "special cases" such as his can revive his manhood, sealing the deal that he has with his non soul mate. Fred is stricken by the reality that nothing is as he left it. His wife wants a divorce; his son has a chance at Stanford, but cannot foot the rest of the bill, choosing instead of enlisting in the army. And Colee is constantly being reminded by her male compatriots that her illusion of a perfect reuniting
with a family she's never met before is just a fabrication of a little girl's dream and a pathological liar's tall tales. So that scene in the airport, where they find themselves stranded in New York stands for more than just being stranded in an airport, obviously.The only logical solution for their strandedness is to escape - to ride off into the night, heading for St. Louis where the slew of bad news beings. There is no hope in this story. There are no true happy endings. All we have is one misfortune after another, allowing for each of the three major characters of this heartfelt, American movie, to change - to see themselves for the first time, not as soldiers, not has husband, father, son, daughter, lover or any other social clique we are placed in, but as themselves.
The actors are realistic in the roles. Rachel McAdams delivers a lovable Colee Dunn; Michael Peña creates the mean-spirited, bitter, yet caring T.K. Poole; and Tim Robbins, the man who has the hardest part, in my opinion, brings the hopeful and heartbroken Fred Cheaver to life. It's a movie for anyone who has ever served, or has family serving to enjoy. And the rest of us to grow with.
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