Opening This Week: Three Movies Based on Best-Sellers and a DisneyNature Documentary About Chimps

A sheltered Christian student finds himself at a notoriously free-thinking college, women learn to play the game of romance a man’s way, and a former Marine finds the woman whose photograph was his lucky talisman in this week’s feature films, all based on best-selling books.  Also opening this week is DisneyNature’s latest “how do they get that footage?” documentary, the story of an orphaned chimp named Oscar.

The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks, is the story of U.S. Marine Logan Thibault, who finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq.  He experiences a sudden streak of luck — winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph — his lucky charm.  When he returns home, he seeks out the woman in the picture.  Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, and Blythe Danner star in the movie, directed by Scott Hicks.

Stand-up comic and talk radio stat Steve Harvey is the author of the best-selling advice book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment.  Like He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys, it has been turned into an ensemble romantic comedy featuring a dozen talented performers.  Come to think of it, the advice is both books is pretty much the same, too — the better treatment you insist on, the better you will be treated.  Perhaps the next movie on this theme will be based on Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” This movie’s title: “Think Like a Man.”

Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality a series of essays about his evolving thoughts on faith and grace.  It has been turned into a film about a young man from an evangelical community in Texas whose non-believer (and jazz music fan) father sends him to study at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

And Disney’s fourth Earth Day release is “Chimpanzee,” with a contribution going to Jane Goodall’s institute for every ticket bought this weekend.