Where to watch Lucky Numbers
2 Stars
Winter 1988. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is Russ Richard’s oyster, there where he is the popular weatherman for WTPA Channel 6 News. That popularity allows him many perks in the city, especially at his local Denny’s. Things start to go off the rails for him as this winter is unseasonably warm and not white, meaning that no one is buying from his snowmobile dealership, and none of his usual sources are willing to advance him any money to tide him over this rough business patch. In turning to Gig, a slightly shady acquaintance who operates a strip club and bar, Russ decides to turn to illegal activities to get the money he needs. After one failed attempt at that criminal life which has its own negative consequences, Russ instead decides on a lottery scam, his partners in crime being Gig, and Crystal Latroy, Russ’ colleague at WTPA as the Pennsylvania Lucky Six Lottery girl – the lottery numbers which are drawn live on air during WTPA’s supper hour news – and his sometime lover. Crystal is also sleeping with her and Russ’ married boss, WTPA manager Dick Simmons, in an effort to get ahead in the world. Russ, Gig and Crystal are able to devise a plan to win the next jackpot, worth $6.4 million. As they enact the plan, which requires the assistance from a few others, the plan also potentially starts to go off the rails as those in the know and those who think that they know something about the fraud want what they believe is their fair share which, if Russ would agree, would get him further in the hole than he was before going into the venture. But as things get more and more dangerous and potentially lethal, Russ, Crystal and Gig begin to have diverging views on how to get out from the increasing mess based on their own tolerance of the risk for the potential reward.
Lucky Numbers is a sporadically amusing black comedy from Nora Ephron. She is the creative hand behind blockbusters such as Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. It’s admirable that Ephron is attempting to show her ability to handle less sanguine material than previously thought. Still, Lucky Numbers would have been better suited to the Cohen Brothers or Paul Thomas Anderson. The ‘dark’ elements of the story rob the film of its charm and humor; if this was the intention, why does the tone veer from scene to scene?
Travolta is excellent as a broke and exasperated local TV weatherman who must get involved with unsavory characters to maintain his local celebrity status. Kudrow is too lightweight to be effective as a seductive sexpot and paired with Travolta, they have zero chemistry; their relationship seems perfunctory for the plot to work. A few scenes can produce chuckles, mostly from Bill Pullman’s disinterested police officer character. Lucky Numbers was Travolta’s second box-office bomb in the same calendar year, threatening to jettison him off the A-list again. Although, I’d rewatch Lucky Numbers a dozen times rather than be subjected to Battlefield Earth for one minute.
Directed by: Nora Ephron
Written by: Adam Resnick
Starring: John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow, Tim Roth