50
New Times (L.A.) by Andy Klein
This is mostly well-constructed fluff, which is all it seems intended to be.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
30
The New York Times by Dave Kehr
Mr. Cattaneo restricts himself to the smiling blandness that has become the stock in trade of British comedies made for export, turning in a film that is forced, familiar and thoroughly condescending.
60
Mike Leigh mainstay Timothy Spall deftly shades in the designated goner, fellow "Still Crazy" alum Bill Nighy is sweetly wispy as the capable fop, and anger-management counselor Olivia Williams trembles pleasantly as usual.
40
Neither the appealing cast nor the bouncing, ska-inflected soundtrack can keep the party going.
33
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Every porridgy inmate in this instantly forgettable romp warbles in the prison's amateur musical, and one of them demonstrates a rather extreme devotion to the tomatoes he grows in the on-site greenhouse.
80
Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan
Apart from the deja vu all over again, Lucky Break is no worse a film than "Breaking Out," and "Breaking Out" was utterly charming.
75
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
There is not much here that comes as a blinding plot revelation, but the movie has a raffish charm and good-hearted characters, and like "The Full Monty" it makes good use of the desperation beneath the comedy.
70
Overall, it's good, not great.
50
The big musical setpiece, rife with possibilities for humor and uplift, needed to be funnier and more energetic than the half-hearted lyrics and choreography bother to muster.
30
Perfectly inoffensive and harmless, but it's also drab and inert.