Lucky Day (2019)

Lucky Day is the kind of lean, pulpy crime thriller that doesn’t apologize for being loud, nasty, and stylish—it wants to grab you by the collar and drag you through one bad decision after another. Roger Avary stages the mayhem with a mischievous, hard-boiled energy, but the real electricity comes from Crispin Glover, who turns the hitman Luc into a bizarre, flamboyant nightmare you can’t stop watching even when you want to look away. Beneath the gunfire and grime, there’s a simple hook that works: a man trying to be decent for his family while the past refuses to stay buried. It’s not for viewers who want grounded realism or subtlety, but if you’re in the mood for a midnight-movie jolt with a memorably unhinged villain, this one hits the spot.

Lucky Day is clearly trying to be a slick, Tarantino-adjacent crime romp with a reformed thief, a day-from-hell chase, and a scene-stealing villain chewing the scenery. The problem is the tone swings wildly between grim and goofy, and the writing leans on loud violence and shocky provocation instead of tension or cleverness, so it can feel more obnoxious than thrilling. It’s also the kind of movie where some character work comes off crude, with touches that read as sexist or racially tone-deaf, making the ugliness feel careless rather than purposeful. If you’re here for Crispin Glover’s unhinged energy and don’t mind a messy, mean-spirited B-movie vibe, you might get a few guilty-pleasure moments; if you want a tight, smart thriller, this probably isn’t your lucky day.