Critic Reviews

• Todd McCarthy, Variety

  A visually unattractive picture of meager verve and dynamism.

• Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com

  Travolta and Kudrow make a winning combination, and the result is mindless, instantly forgettable comic fluff that will engage you, given half a chance.

• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  Tells too much story at not enough energy. It should have been cut back and cranked up.

• Jay Carr, Boston Globe

  Never finds the comic tone it's after.

• Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  It pretty much squanders the talents of everybody involved.

• Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

  A dark comedy in the muckraking mode that starts out murderously well but then begins to unravel -- just like Russ' misbegotten schemes.

• Nell Minow, Common Sense Media

  Not a great movie, and definitely not for kids.

• Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com

  With this dud of a dark comedy, it's clear that director Nora Ephron's unluckiest number is that of John Travolta.

• John Venable, Supercala.com

  The ping-pong ball trick was funny...but that was all.

• Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

  Lucky Numbers" builds from a shaky first act and actually gets funnier as the tone gets darker.

• James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette

  a black comedy that would have been much funnier and edgier if it hadn't been softened up to accomodate a star of Travolta's magnitude.

• Chuck Rudolph, Matinee Magazine

  About as lucky as a broken mirror.

• Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

  The colorful cast saves Travolta's hide this time around.

• Blake French, NutzWorld

  does manage to possess an enjoyable tone, but often loses its focus and wonders off in so many directions, it's hard to keep up

• Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio

  In a brazen gamble that mixes a risky brew of raw indie humor with Hollywood feelgood fluff, Lucky Numbers plays a game with the expectations of both of these audiences.

• Jorge Avila Andrade, Moviola

  Es una verdadera pena que una directora capaz como Ephron se haya prestado para esta cinta que ni llega a ser comedia ni thriller en su totalidad

• David Keyes, Cinemaphile.org

  ...a movie with a strong premise nailed down firmly, but no decent characters, inspiration, mild humor or even stable plot structure to top off the package.

• Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette

  Starts out brilliantly, chugs along quite nicely for a while, then wilts and dies just before it ends.

• Andy Klein, TNT's Rough Cut

  The jokes simply aren't there; and, while some individual scenes work, the overall pacing is uneven.

• David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune

  The crafty actors hit their marks (Kudrow especially), but those marks sink in the quicksand of an insipid script directed with barely any feeling for comical momentum or stylized charm.

Read all 24 critic reviews