Luck at First Sight doubles down on its concept, with mixed results

Joma (Jericho Rosales) is a professional gambler who believes in luck. Diane (Bela Padilla), on the other hand, doesn't really believe in it. By some quirk of supernatural fate, they produce abnormally good luck whenever they touch each other, and Joma proposes to use this to their mutual advantage, as they both need the money. There is a catch, though: if either one falls in love with the other, the luck disappears.

Luck at First Sight takes this admittedly silly premise and just runs with it. The movie requires a significant suspension of disbelief. Soon, the duo are making decent coin betting on small time gambling enterprises and illegal casinos. Perhaps betting on larger casinos or on the lottery/sweepstakes would make them more money faster, but plot needs to happen.

So we have this strange milieu where two characters bond together through gambling. There's a certain kind of logic in that, considering that there's an adrenaline rush that comes whenever one bets big and wins big. For one, it's certainly a unique concept.

It soon becomes clear that Joma has a gambling problem, especially with regards to self restraint. He's racked up a ton of debts and he keeps on losing money because he doesn't know when to quit. Rosales' performance is actually my favorite thing about the movie: he subverts the trope of a charming, handsome love interest with a winning smile when he uses that same charm to try to extort just a few more pesos from Bela Padilla's character during the film's major dramatic turn. His expression mixes just the right amount of desperation and faux charm that he really pulls it off.

The movie could have gone to interesting places with this, but it unfortunately opts for the safe route, and it does so by doubling down on its concept. Its main dilemma, created by a gambling problem, is solved by EVEN MORE gambling (and even then, it becomes an unnecessary non-solution). It has the unfortunate effect of downplaying Joma's problem with gambling. The end effect feels rushed when the conversation at the end of the movie neatly tucks away any hanging plot threads. It feels too clean, too neat for a narrative like this. And, the ending backtracks from the premise of the story, implying that luck really doesn't matter after all.

While I don't think Luck at First Sight is bad, it takes a couple of weird turns and the final product suffers as a result.