LUCKY SEVEN

REVIEWED BY RISSI C.

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, bawdy humor

Rated:

Seven is the lucky number for Amy Myer (Kimberly William-Paisley), at least when it comes to the perfect guy. When she was seven, her mom Rachel (Gail O’ Grady) who was sick with a terminal illness, made her a timeline of her life, saying she should go to camp, run for class president and have her first boyfriend at sixteen. She then channels her growing up years through boyfriend number seven, saying he’ll be the perfect one. Amy goes to sleep that night and wakes up to her daddy telling her that mommy got very sick last night. The only thing remaining of her mom is the timeline.

Fast forward twenty years. Amy is a successful lawyer with a checklist that is never far from her, who has just ended a relationship with boyfriend number five after three years. During one of their father-daughter weekly dinners, Amy and her dad Bernie talk about the last three years of Amy’s life with Leo. Her father tells her that he never liked him anyway, and Amy is looking forward boyfriend number six. A frequent shopper at a little local bagel shop, Amy sees “bagel man” Peter (Patrick Dempsey) every visit and he always has her order up and waiting. On her next visit, she remarks that she’s beginning to feel a little guilty about getting free bagels, and he asks her for a favor in return: if she’d like to attend a friend's wedding as his date. Amy is a bit taken aback and tells Peter she can’t but will think on finding someone for him. She rushes off to work only to run into Daniel (Brad Rowe), a successful businessman who Amy feels a connection with.  After a brief conversation and exchange of phone numbers, they part ways.

After an excruciating week of waiting for Daniel to call, he finally calls and asks her out.  The date is perfect; Daniel was prompt, brought red roses and took her to a wonderful restaurant with great food. Discussing their first date with friends Maya (Michelle Harrison) and Ray (Lochlyn Munro), Amy suddenly realizes Daniel is number six, not seven! But he’s perfect and “the one," so Amy must think up some way to stall becoming his girlfriend until she’s had number six... This ABC family channel movie is a cute romantic comedy with a great cast and lovely scenery.  Kimberly Williams is so fun in this role. Her character is a bit of a perfectionist who goes through life doing everything expected of her and can’t seem to let go. Both Patrick and Brad are fabulous as the men in her life. Amy’s friends Ray and Maya are also a stitch and while they aren’t a big part, I love the scenes between them and Amy.

Amy’s mom has “held her hand” throughout her whole life and now that life is taking a different turn for her, she’s uncertain as to what she’ll do. Despite most the movie being comic, there is also the dramatic aspect with Amy learning how to take life and do some things on her own, without her mom being there. She must learn that she was seven at the time and her mom was simply giving her something to hold on too after she was gone. Content is somewhat disappointing, but isn’t as detailed as it could have been. There is some talk at the beginning of the movie about a man cheating on his girlfriend, and sexual “humor." During time with Peter, the couple get separated by his friends and both describe a different first date. We go back and forth between the two. Amy and Peter do sleep together, we see them come in the room passionately kissing and then wake up together sheets drawn up. 

Amy brings Daniel home but stalls in the bathroom, scrubbing the sink, brushing her teeth, etc., and when she comes out, he’s asleep. Amy uses a dating service and one of the candidates remarks “I only look like a woman on the outside." Having a liking for Kimberly Williams and Patrick Dempsey was two of the reasons I decided to try this, but another reason was because it premiered on the Family channel. That to me said it would maybe be free of offensive content. How mistaken I was. This isn’t the first time I’ve made that mistake, so now I know that just because there’s a family channel out there, it doesn’t mean it’s family material. For Lucky Seven the things that were thrown in to make it more “comic” were really sad, because underneath this is a really adorable romantic comedy that just leaves a smile on your face.