Lucky Devils

Directed by Ralph Ince, Lucky Devils follows several stuntmen, including Bill Boyd’s Skipper and William Bakewell’s Slugger, as they attempt to balance their dangerous work lives with their romantic relationships. Filmmaker Ince, armed with a script by Agnes Christine Johnston and Ben Markson, kicks Lucky Devils off with a terrific movie-within-a-movie sequence that segues into a rather hit-and-miss midsection, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that the movie is at its best when focused on the perilous (and fascinating) behind-the-scenes exploits of its various characters – with this particularly true of a tense sequence detailing Slugger’s nervous efforts at shooting an especially dangerous action sequence. And although the narrative’s melodramatic happenings generally fall flat and wreak havoc on the movie’s forward momentum, Lucky Devils builds towards a surprisingly engrossing, race-against-the-clock third act that ensures the whole thing concludes on a memorable (and genuinely exciting) note – with the end result a hit-and-miss drama that’s ultimately more the former than the latter.

*** out of ****