Sunset Boulevard"" lost soul Norma Desmond said the actors of the silent era didn't need dialogue because, ""we had faces."" In a way, several decades after the introduction of ""the talkies,"" faces might also be the one thing ""Good Luck Chuck"" has going for it. No matter how asinine the story, how terrible the script and direction and how poor the acting is - ""Good Luck Chuck's"" ideal viewers, who are there to see Jessica Alba, Dane Cook and a busload of attractive women getting naked, will not be deterred.
Dane Cook plays Charlie - no one actually refers to him as Chuck outside of the title - a dentist who is cursed by a romantically-spurned goth girl in his childhood, and comes to realize that every woman he has slept with has met her perfect match immediately after she's left him. He eventually meets Cam, played by Alba, a penguin keeper that he comes to love, but fears getting physical with because that means she will eventually find her dream man as soon as she leaves him.
""Chuck"" is the kind of film most teenage boys dream about when they're just entering puberty - it's full of broad humor (the scene where Cook's crotch is attacked by a penguin after he falls into their tank is a good example), simply disgusting humor and loads of nude and sex scenes. On one hand, it's a shame that most of those boys won't see ""Chuck"" due to its 'R' rating, but on the other hand it's a relief they will have to pass on it and maybe they'll find their way into a PG-13 film better than this one.
There are so many problems with ""Chuck,"" that it's hard to blame much on Cook or Alba, who turn in subpar performances. Dane Cook looks understandably bored most of the time, as he's slingshot between a gross-out comedy and a romantic comedy, neither of which are particularly funny.
First-time director Mark Helfrich directs capably, if without flair, but should be congratulated for finding a way to get 16 different superfluous copulation scenes on-screen at once (4-by-4 split screen, like ""The Brady Bunch"" gone to hell). But even he can only work with what he's been given, and what he's been given isn't much - there's much that's superfluous about ""Good Luck Chuck."" In fact, much of the script, and character development especially, seems like filler, waiting for the next sex scene or gag.
What's noteworthy, however, is the last scene, which plays during the credits. The scene features Cook in a shocking, unexpected sexual turn. It's raunchy, disgusting and funny in its surprise delivery. If only the rest of the movie could have been as shockingly willing to plunge to those depths for the sake of comedy, this might be a film worth seeing. It instead takes the safer route and gets mired in 90 minutes of boob jokes and slapstick.
Norma Desmond added in ""Sunset Boulevard"" that the invention of sound to films made the films smaller than they used to be. We as the audience are meant to laugh this off, knowing how much grander sound has made movies. After ""Good Luck Chuck,"" some may be willing to reconsider her words.
