Like Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” and Paula Hawkins’ “The Girl on the Train,” Jessica Knoll’s “Luckiest Girl Alive” is a “Girl”-titled psychological thriller that became a pop culture sensation and was destined for adaptation — in the case of the latter, a Netflix film with Knoll writing the screenplay, Mike Barker (“The Sandman,” “The Handmaid’s Tale”) directing and Mila Kunis delivering one of the most impactful performances of her fine film career.
This is a tough and sometimes grim and difficult-to-watch effort, with a number of brutally intense scenes depicting rape and gun violence. (If that type of material hits you in a way that will leave a lasting impact, this is not the movie for you.) “Luckiest Girl Alive” is set in 2015 (the year the novel was published), and the first time we see Kunis’ Ani, she’s shopping for upscale cutlery in Manhattan with her fiancé Luke (Finn Wittrock) — and when the condescending salesman asks the “petite” Ani to hold a pair of knives in her hands to get a feel for the weight, she looks down and sees the knives covered in blood, and Luke down on the floor.
