merklekranz
David Mamet's "House of Games" is probably the definitive "switcheroo" movie. It is highly entertaining, and highly recommended. "7 Times Lucky" is a failed attempt to create interest in a similar con game. Unfortunately the only con game here is the one being played on the audience. An unbelievably contrived script, and some truly uninspired acting, sinks this wannabe noir. There is zero character development, so who cares if in the first few minutes a guy gets hung upside down and has his toe cut off? Annoying flashbacks only add to the confusion, and all of this nonsense is wrapped in a Christmas theme no less. An almost incoherent, train wreck of a film. - MERK
Kelly Cather
I rented this film because there was a lot of buzz about it a few years back. It was shot in my hometown (Winnipeg, Canada).Unfortunately, the makers of this film clearly ripped off the main characters and most of the plot points from the classic French caper "Bob le flambeur". "Bob le flambeur" is a classic and a much better film. The producers should be making royalty payments to the Jean-Pierre Melville estate."Seven Times Lucky" is a mediocre film, and has some obvious weaknesses, mainly being a miscast lead Kevin Pollack. I cannot see Pollack in a million years in a relationship with the twenty-three years younger Liane Balaban. Balaban has a solid performance in this film, but I can not recommend renting it.
GrunterGrimm
This movie gives itself away as Canadian-made long before the suitcase of $CDN 100's is shown - it's low-budget, tight, low-key, relatively nonviolent, and features at least one name Hollywood actor or actress (artsy, or B-list) to give it some box-office appeal. Hence the movie features Kevin Pollack, a short, nebbishy character actor, who shows he's capable of carrying a certain type of flick by himself, in this case as an intelligent, hard-boiled grifter who doesn't let his emotions get in the way of doing business. Does having an aboriginal as a heavyweight villain make a movie distinctly Canadian? I'm not sure, but it's a refreshing change from post-Soviet Russian gangsters.In this movie each scam sets up another with various irresistible hockable valuables turning up to sweeten the pot and lure the crooked types involved. It all begins with a "sure bet" on the horses, and as the movie's characters are introduced at a goodly pace, we begin to wonder about which character is setting up which. Or are they scamming? The movie also does well with the subtleties and then the revelations about the various partnership combinations. Was it love - or just a scam?
Craig Whyel
I didn't get it and I paid real close attention.I think they were going for more of a feel than an actual outcomes based production vis a vis a storyline that one can grasp.The intentional distortion of the time era via props and costuming further served to undo the film.Kevin Pollack is totally and completely wasted. His alternating between glibness and melodrama took things down even further as did the chronic overcast skies of Winnipeg. He even looked, very briefly, like Groucho Marx in You Bet Your Life.It's not worth the time, and I say that feeling badly because I sensed that they were really shooting for something specially and came up way short.
AD
