I was a child during the first Mary-Kate and Olsen
craze. This was toward the end of their Full House
career, and they were queens of the straight-to-video
empire. I cringed whenever visiting my grandmother's
house with my younger cousin present, because I knew
that, rather than spending some quality time with
He-Man, the Smurfs or G. I. Joe, I'd spend hours on
end tapping my foot while she watched Mary-Kate and
Ashley Visit Grandma, or Mary-Kate and Ashley Save
Christmas, or Mary- Kate and Ashley Brush Their Teeth.
Though I never understood the joy in watching an
annoying pair of twins spouting badly written
catchphrases while being pursued by another pair of
bumbling criminals, my cousin ate it up. And now,
thanks to my cousin and millions in her demographic,
Mary-Kate and Ashley are multi-millionaires. Lindsay
Lohan, though nearly out of her teens now at age 19,
seems to have been taking notes, and her latest film,
Just My Luck, fits nicely alongside her other romantic
comedies that involve luck, fate and coincidence.
Just My Luck (rated PG-13 for some sexual dialogue)
follows always-lucky Ashley Albright (Lohan) as she
climbs higher and higher into the corporate world,
with no effort at all. At the same time, Jake Hardin
(Chris Pine) is just trying to climb out of his
janitorial job with all the effort he can muster, but
to no avail. Luck changes, however, when they meet at
a masquerade ball and, for no other reason than to
advance the plot, kiss 10 seconds after meeting one
other. As we all know, luck is a communicable disease
(it might help to tell that to your superstitious
preteens), so their luck is naturally swapped.
Immediately, she is thrown in jail, and he becomes
manager for the hottest new pop-rock band, McFly (a
real-life band that owes its agent big-time for
getting it this much publicity). Realizing that her
bad luck had been brought on by the kiss, Ashley
decides to hunt down everyone who fits the profile of
her masked dancer, hoping to reverse the curse by
kissing the same guy a second time.
Though the idea of corporate executives teetering
around New York and giggling about cute guys may seem
implausible to anyone outside of Lohan's social
circles, the film isn't completely unbearable. Behind
the fake tans and overpriced outfits, there lies a
deep, existential question: Is there something out
there, beyond our control, which governs our lives?
Just My Luck seems to hint that there is—though
Ashley and Jake admit at one point they don't know
exactly what to call it. The film also seems to say
that there's nothing we can do to make luck work
entirely for us. Instead, we must learn to appreciate
the good things and simply accommodate for the bad
things. Just My Luck also provides an expert on all
things cosmic in Madame Z (Tovah Feldshuh), the
fortuneteller who can decipher the universe's
mysteries through her trusty Tarot deck. But can we be
satisfied with this answer of
"accommodation" when really bad things
happen—those things that involve more than doggy poo
or soapsuds?
For the Christian, assurance during the "bad
luck" times comes in an alliance with a deity who
is less fickle than luck— more personable than fate.
Though Christians usually go through the same amount
of hardships as non-Christians, the knowledge of God's
interest in their lives provides a hope and sustenance
beyond reason. And though the Christian's cosmic force
has been known to interact personally in the lives of
those in His care, He also provides his own
"experts on all things cosmic" in pastors,
church leaders and mature Christians, and He provides
a guide to the "universe's mysteries" in the
Bible. Just My Luck is a fable aimed at the typical
American teenaged girl. Though some of its actors tend
to overact at times and both of the leads seem
absolutely exhausted throughout the whole film, it has
moments of "cute" comedy that even an adult
can enjoy without too much involuntary gagging. Like
many of today's films, it opens doors to weightier
questions than the typical, "How can I get my
hair like Lindsay's? " or "Where can I get a
poster of him in a tank top so I can hang it on my
wall? " If we're "lucky," such
questions can lead to tackling some serious issues
about what or who controls our lives.
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