Few sparks fly in 'The Lucky One'

You don't need a message in a bottle to get the word out: Author Nicholas Sparks knows his audience.

Conservative moviegoers (along with plenty of centrists and liberals) take to the latest Sparks adaptation, gratefully. They know they're not going to get roughed up in terms of content, or ideologically insulted: Sparks writes best-sellers that treat military personnel with respect, churchgoing Christians likewise, and red state backdrops with fond, photogenic care.

Take The Lucky One, the seventh and latest Sparks project to hit the screen, and the sixth one likely to elicit the response "Well, it's no Notebook." When the characters played by Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling consummate, discreetly, their love, the sun pours through the window in such a way that the scene could be taking place on the sun.

Taylor Schilling, left, and Zac Efron play Beth and Logan in 'The Lucky One.'

Efron plays Logan Thibault, a Marine whose three tours in Iraq have left him rattled, emotionally isolated, and ripe for the right woman to come along. In the prologue, following a bloody ambush during a night raid, Logan finds a snapshot of a smiling woman in the rubble. He keeps the photo safe from harm, and the photo apparently does likewise; it's his lucky charm, his guardian angel.

Back home months later, Logan sets out on foot from Colorado to Louisiana, with his dog, Zeus, in search of the woman in the photo. Schilling plays the woman, Beth, whose brother was killed in the raid. She works in a suspiciously prosperous dog kennel with her grandmother (Blythe Danner, a touch of class) and her chess-playing preteen son (Riley Thomas Stewart). Logan shows up and takes a conveniently unfilled job as handyman and all-around hunky helper. Beth's ex (Jay R. Ferguson) is a bullying, abusive officer of the law, given to stalking Beth, sneering at their son's unathletic interests, and eyeing "soldier boy" Logan as threat No. 1.

A Sparks tale generally requires a massive leap of faith. Here, it's a good old-fashioned delayed secret: Logan conceals what has brought him to her, i.e., the photo found near her brother's body. Why? "I could never find the words," he says. I'll have to remember that one.

THE LUCKY ONE

Directed by Scott Hicks. Screen play by Will Fetters, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. A Warner Bros. release, playing at Rave Franklin Park, Fallen Timbers, and Levis Commons. Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and violence. Running time: 101 minutes.

Critic's rating: * *

Logan .......... Zac Efron

Beth ........... Taylor Schilling

Ellie ......... Blythe Danner