From the film's previews alone much could be assumed. Alba bumps into plenty of objects (including Chuck's crotch, which she splatters with hot candle wax), and Chuck's chubby friend rants about the virtues of sex without love (without love it still remains, apparently, sex). What the previews fails to make apparent is the caliber with which the filmmakers address such issues as middles-school curses and obese people falling in love.
The film's high point has to be its raunchy run-on jokes that feature large women straddling the significantly smaller Chuck. "Brilliant" takes it a little far, but surely the well-placed addition of a lobster-devouring, vaguely female and acne-infused 300-pounder was a "great" call.
Good Luck Chuck's main downside is that Cook actually proves he can hold a film together all on his own. Perhaps like The Rock before him, Cook too can cross over from B-list laughs to A-list substance.
Therefore, lest he actually make something of himself in his next Hollywood foray (something he attempted with Mr. Brooks), let us hope Cook sticks to the downtrodden, overused gross-out gags that work so disgustingly well here. It'd be a shame not to see his talent wasted. D
2008 Woodie Awards
