The Lucky One

Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, The Lucky One follows Logan Thibault, a U.S. Marine who survives three tours in Iraq and credits his survival to a photograph of an unknown woman that he found in the sand. After returning home, he sets out to find her, and his search leads him to Beth, a divorced mother who runs a dog kennel and lives with her grandmother and young son. Logan takes a job at the kennel and grows close to Beth, but he keeps the real reason for his arrival to himself, while her possessive ex-husband, the local sheriff, makes his presence felt.

The film was directed by Scott Hicks, arriving between No Reservations and Fallen in a filmography that also includes Shine and Snow Falling on Cedars. Will Fetters wrote the screenplay, and Zac Efron leads a cast that includes Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Jay R. Ferguson and Riley Thomas Stewart. Produced on a budget of 25 million dollars, it earned about 99 million dollars worldwide.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.4 from roughly 118,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.2 from a much smaller base of 3,881 votes. A critics' rating of 4.2 from 146 reviews places it well below the audience scores.