May 2, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I, II & IV • Page 19 Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling star in ‘The Lucky One’ by Dennis Seuling “The Lucky One” uses the war in Iraq as a jumping-off point for this romantic drama based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Zac Efron), on his third tour of duty in Iraq, spots something glistening in the rubble. Just as he walks over to retrieve it, mortar fire hits the place he was standing and another soldier is killed. The object that attracted Logan is a photo of a young woman with the inscription “Stay safe” on the back. He keeps the photo with him for the duration of his tour and escapes danger once again. He determines to find the woman when he returns to the United States. Romance stories depend a lot more on emotion than cold, hard logic. Otherwise, “The Lucky One” would fall apart at the outset. The idea that Logan is able to surf the Internet and miraculously come up with a lighthouse in Louisiana that matches one in the background of his photo is a stretch, but his on-foot trek from Colorado to Louisiana accompanied by his faithful German shepherd seems absolutely dopey when car rental companies would be happy to have Logan’s business. This aside, Logan does locate the woman, Beth (Taylor Schilling), a widow who runs a rural kennel with her grandmother, Ellie (Blythe Danner, looking lovelier than ever). He wants to tell her about the photo, but she mistakes him for an applicant for a job she advertised, and hires him to help at the kennel. Logan goes (continued on Crossword page) Taylor Schilling and Zac Efron in ‘The Lucky One.’