Movies

‘Lucky Bastard’ gives decent performances in bad plot

If nothing else (and that is pretty accurate), this found-footage horror film comprises the perfect storm of keywords to ensure moderate online success: porn, guns, boobs, simulated rape, antisocial psychopath. The setup: An adult Web site regularly picks a “lucky bastard” from among its viewers and bestows upon him the gift of having sex with one of its stable of porn stars.

In this case, it’s creepy Dave (Jay Paulson), whose story about a brother dying of cancer moves cynical site boss Mike (Don McManus).

Almost immediately, things go off the rails, as actress Ashley (Betsy Rue) wants out of the assignment. Aside from one vaguely surprising scene of sadism, you know exactly what’s coming, per first-time director Robert Nathan’s decision to start the movie with crime-scene footage and then flash back.

The three leads in “Lucky Bastard” turn in decent performances, and clearly need better agents. No amount of actorly dedication can change the pointlessness of watching unpleasant things happening to uniformly unpleasant people.