It appears that R-rated adult comedies are quickly becoming the rage in Hollywood, hot on the heels of The 40-Year Old Virgin (and come to think of it, anything with Judd Apatow attached to it).  I welcome the trend, after so many unfunny and unoriginal juvenile romantic comedies the studios peppered us over the past decade or so. 

Good Luck Chuck carries on in that direction, but also with a tender heart and a sweet soul beneath all of the debauchery and profanity.Good Luck Chuck tells the tale of Charlie Logan, played with boyishly endearing charm by stand-up comedian Dane Cook (Employee of the Month), a dentist who was cursed long ago by a spurned young girl to never find his true love along with quite a twist.  

See, every one of Charlie’s female conquests immediately finds her true love following the end of her relationship with Chuck.  When Charlie finds the girl of his dreams in penguin expert Cam Wexler, portrayed here by the enormously attractive Jessica Alba (The Invisible Woman of this past summer’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), he finds himself in a most interesting conundrum where he fears that if he consummates his relationship with Cam, she will move on to the love of her life after him.  What happens next are a variety of hilarious (and often surprisingly raunchy) twists and turns as Charlie attempts to defeat the curse placed upon him while at the same time tries to keep Cam in his life.

Good Luck Chuck is an entertaining film and really a fairly big surprise during these, the fall movie season doldrums.  Dane Cook is proving to have the right acting chops, and this movie was the perfect vehicle for him in that respect.  Dan Fogler (this year’s Balls of Fury) was terrific (as well as creepy) as Chuck’s childhood best friend Stu, but the true standout was Jessica Alba.  Obviously, Alba is beautiful, almost breathlessly so, but she previously had yet to show any great acting ability, although her turns as Susan Storm in the Fantastic Four films came close.  In Good Luck Chuck, she displays great comedic timing as Cam “Murphy” Wexler, and partakes in more pratfalls and slapstick routines than Jack Tripper on an old episode of Three’s Company. 

Alba’s finally coming into her own, and has proven that she has an uncanny knack for comedy.  However, it remains to be seen if she will ever get a role as funny, diverse, and so un-Jessica Alba-like as Cam Wexler.  Here’s hoping.Sometimes, films are just created to make us laugh.  Sometimes, they just provide a bit of escapism from the often dramatic and scary world in which we live in.  That is all I have ever asked of films in general.  Luckily, and with no pun intended, Good Luck Chuck just happened to be exactly one of those movies.

Grade: 3 out of 5 stars

---