Roger Avary? Roger Avary?! I need Obi-Wan here to tell me, “That’s a name I have not heard in a long time.” Do I remember you, Roger Avary? Oh yes, I do. You’re the guy who announced he was going to “take a piss” while collecting his co-writing Oscar for Pulp Fiction. How did that bathroom break go, Rog? Because as far as I could tell, you left that stage and disappeared for decades. One rarely gets a chance to quote Star Wars and Fast Times at Ridgemont High in the same paragraph, so I’m not missing out with, “I hope you had a hell of a piss, [Roger].”
Writer/director/urinator Roger Avary resurfaced last year with the crime dramedy Lucky Day, a film about a released inmate (Luke Bracey), the woman waiting for him (Nina Dobrev), and serial hitman Crispin Glover.
You read that right. Serial.Hitman.Crispin.Glover. Oh, and he’s good, too. This McFly ain’t taking any Biff Tannen shit. He’d sooner paint the walls Biff Red. In fact, if there’s any one quibble I have with Lucky Day it’s that Luc (Glover) makes the Day more Luc-y than Lucky. You can’t just kill a guy in an airport parking garage to steal his ride and not get a detective or two on your ass, can you? Luc doesn’t stop there; see, he’s waited two years for Red (Bracey) to be released so that he can paint some walls 
Red Red … but Luc ain’t exactly discriminatory in the meantime.
Red seems a lot calmer than your usual parolee. The reasons are threefold: a beautiful wife Chloe (Dobrev), a daughter, and $500k in stolen bearer bonds that he didn’t exactly tell anybody about. Oops. Meanwhile, artistic Chloe sees her big break as an upcoming show … with –and this is cute- she’s painted an entire collection devoted to prison-wall interiors. How would you like to be in prison for two full years, come home, and realize your S.O. has created a portfolio of your prison surroundings?
In fact, were Lucky Day not so forgettable, I’d almost say I enjoyed it. Lucky Day feels a lot like, perhaps, what Pulp Fiction might have been without Quentin Tarantino: a lot of blood, a smattering of irony, a touch of outrageousness, and not a single moment or character or dialogue worth remembering. Try picturing Pulp Fiction without memorable dialogue … what do you see? Is it a film we still laud? I feel like I’d enjoy it and then toss it away like the remains of “BBQ Wings” night. Hence, this is a very Luc-warm approval. I like Lucky Day more than I didn’t, but not enough to want Roger Avary to surface again in the next twenty-five years.
There once was a hitter named Luc
Who avenged every single rebuke
I can see by your eyes
He’s here by surprise
Now sure why; he walks, talks, and quacks like a duke
Rated R, 99 Minutes
Director: Roger Avary
Writer: Roger Avary
Genre: “I can still write crime, see?”
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Prisoners with people waiting for them
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Art gallery owners
