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Just perfect...

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Blonde girl Leslie buys a lottery ticket and forgets her driver's license at the convenient store. Ben Keller (Colin Hanks) is a bumbling accountant who's in love with the firm's secretary Lucy St. Martin (Ari Graynor). She quits after an affair with the boss goes sour. Ben has known Lucy since childhood but she couldn't care less until he wins the $36 million lottery. His mother Pauline (Ann-Margret) found the ticket and cashed it in. Detective Harold Waylon (Jeffrey Tambor) is investigating a series of missing blonde women.This is a black comedy that doesn't quite get to being funny. The black part is all there. The comedy part tries to be there. Ari Graynor is trying so hard. Colin Hanks is more or less the straight man. He has the persona of a bunny rabbit with a butcher's knife. Director Gil Cates Jr. isn't able to pull it off. He's not a particularly good director or a guy who does comedy. This doesn't working.

Lucky is a serial killer's tale through the eye of a cynic. It's a dark comedy that anyone can easily enjoy.The good. Surprising scenario, nicely put together. When you think it's going to go left, it goes right. Imaginative ideas in the story. Excellent ending. This is not your Hollywood mush, it has realism mixed in the movie flair.The bad. A few logical hitch, but easily ignored.The ugly. Nothing.The result. If you like films that are different, offbeat, this is for you. Everyone else should at least give it a try.

I'll assume that you know this is a dark comedy about a serial killer. If you can swallow that premise, you're halfway there. If not, walk away while you still can.Good, you're still here. Maybe you have a slightly sick sense of humor, or maybe you're simply able to differentiate fiction from reality. One way or another, I think you'll be entertained by this film.Like any good dark comedy, it makes no attempt to moralize, rationalize or justify the characters' criminal actions. Think of the scene in "Pulp Fiction" when they accidentally blow a guy's head off and sit there bickering with bits of brains in their hair. Think of the scene in "The Prophecy" where Christopher Walken, playing the angel of death, snatches a poor dying cancer patient from her blissful demise and forces her to become his servant simply because he can't drive a car. If you cracked a smile at these or any other shockingly morbid bits of dark comedy, then read on.Though not as hyper violent as "Pulp Fiction" or as action packed as "The Prophecy", this film "Lucky" keeps the same sort of biting, surreal, amoral humor. There haven't been too many romcoms that center around murder and psychosis, and for that I give this bonus points for originality.It earns extra points for Ari Graynor's EXCELLENT performance as the detestable gold-digger whose wacky descent into madness makes us suddenly start to root for her. Again, this is in keeping with the theme that even detestable characters can become our heroes. Ari's performance is one of the best examples of how to sway the audiences sympathy even though, in real life, such a character wouldn't be worth the trouble of spitting on her.Similarly, Colin Hanks, with his boyishly innocent face and perpetual deer-in-the-headlights expression, makes you cheer for him even though he butchers people with no remorse. Throw in the lovely Ann-Margaret as the creepy mother, and you have a film with flawless casting. Oh, and how could I forget Jeffrey Tambor? Note to self: never, ever forget Jeffrey Tambor.My only criticism of this film is that the ending comes upon you quite fast and may seem slightly implausible the way it's hastily explained in the final scene. But maybe that's the point. Like an unexpected punchline to a joke, it's probably designed to whack you senseless. But I would've loved to have seen more of Ari losing her mind, having ghostly hallucinations and transforming from clever manipulator to total flake. That's really what made me love this movie.I also seem to recall that the music was pretty cool. I had never heard of the band Transcargo before, but I really liked their song "Kissing the Day" (listen to it on Myspace). I also liked "Whatever Gets You By" by The Features. These and other songs are quirky, happy-ish tunes that are brilliantly juxtaposed against the macabre story.If you like dark comedies that make light of murder, don't hesitate to check this out. So many dark comedies rely on unspoken satire for laughs, but this one dives boldly into comedy territory. I haven't seen too many of those madcap, slapstick style dark comedies. Similar films include the Roberto Benigni film "Il Mostro" about a nerdy schlep (Benigni) who is being investigated for multiple gruesome murders, the Chinese film "A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop" which is a comedy remake of the Coen Brothers' thriller "Blood Simple", and an obscure gem called "Mambo Cafe" about a family that tries to stage a murder at their restaurant to improve business.

Just wasted 103 minutes of my life and I'm afraid there's no way of getting back those precious minutes. Two hours ago I was in a good mood- now I feel like everything is pointless...This attempt at comedy, or black comedy, fails miserably and completely.Seriously, it's awful. In pretty much every way. If you are reading this because you are thinking of watching it, do something else. Honestly, I'm helping you.To say it's like made-for-TV-movies is an insult to made-for-TV-movies.I'm going to cheer myself up by spending another 103 minutes watching some shopping channel in a foreign language that I don't understand.