The Lucky One (2012)
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The story
Logan Thibault, a US Marine serving in Iraq, finds a photograph of a young woman on the ground following a deadly ambush. He keeps the photo as a good luck charm and, after returning home to Colorado, struggles with PTSD and survivor guilt. Seeking purpose, he decides to travel to Louisiana to find the woman in the picture. He eventually tracks her down, a woman named Beth Green. While he begins to build a relationship with her and her son, he must navigate the complexities of her past and the suspicions of her former husband, a local sheriff.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After finding a woman's photo in a war zone, Marine Logan Thibault travels to Louisiana to find her. He meets Beth Green and her son, Ben, and begins a relationship with Beth while working for her grandmother. However, Beth's ex-husband, Sheriff's Deputy Keith Clayton, is suspicious and hostile toward Logan. Tensions peak when Keith steals the photo, leading Beth to believe Logan is stalking her. After a confrontation where Logan disarms an armed Keith, Logan discovers that the man in the photo, Drake, was actually the soldier who saved him in Iraq. During a storm, a bridge collapses; Logan saves Ben from the river while Keith is swept away. A year later, Logan, Beth, and Ben are shown living together as a family.
- First release year
- 2012
- Runtime (minutes)
- 100
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Scott Hicks
- Writers
- Will Fetters · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Zac Efron · Logan Thibault; Taylor Schilling · Beth Green; Jay R. Ferguson · Keith Clayton; Blythe Danner · Ellie
- Genres
- romantic drama; war drama
- Themes
- post-traumatic stress disorder; sacrifice; romance
- Tone and mood
- melodramatic; sentimental
- Setting
- Iraq and Louisiana, USA.
- Premise and plot tags
- war; romance; veterans
- Source material / true-story basis
- Nicholas Sparks’ 2008 novel
- Content notes
- war
- Reception
- The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, with some noting it relies on clichéd elements typical of Nicholas Sparks' work.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 20% · scale: percentage · review count: 148; Metacritic · score: 39 · scale: 100 · review count: 35
- Awards and nominations
- Teen Choice Award · winning films · win
- Production trivia
- The film was shot in Louisiana.; The film grossed over $99 million at the box office.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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