The Lucky One is one of the better Nicholas Sparks adaptations, with Zac Efron providing a quietly effective performance and a picturesque southern backdrop adding to its romantic fantasy.

Any filmmaker who takes on a “based on a story by Nicholas Sparks” project knows that comparisons to The Notebook will be swift and decisive. Yet The Lucky One will survive any comparisons.

As directed by Scott Hicks (the Australian filmmaker Oscar nominated for Shine), The Lucky One features all of the usual Sparks hallmarks yet is played out at a steady pace where its tender love story flourishes to make for engaging, albeit sappy viewing.

Zac Efron is suitably cast as Logan, a marine home after three tours of Iraq, the survival of which he credits to a photograph of a mysterious blonde found in the middle of a warzone.  Logan tracks down the mysterious blonde Beth (Taylor Schilling), a single mother in the process of a divorce and is still grieving the loss of her brother, also a marine.

Of course the two fall in love. Emotionally conflicted love stories is Sparks’ bread and butter and The Lucky One complies, along with other Sparks archetypes. Rival love interest? Check, with Jay R. Ferguson doing a great job in getting under the skin as the slime bag ex-husband. Grand Americana backdrop? Check, with the autumn North Carolina setting beautifully captured by cinematographer Alar Kivilo. Themes of death, fate, and destiny? Check, check, check and so on...

Yet the biggest Sparks cliché is found in his interpretation of a leading man. They must be manly yet sensitive, harbour a dark secret, scarred by a tour of duty, able to rebuild a rundown home and hold a special talent, like say…play the piano.

It is romance fiction nonsense that women love, and Zac Efron plays it well. But he also does a great job infusing some humanity into the fantasy. Efron is quickly becoming the romantic leading man of his generation, and his performance in The Lucky One is an example of why.

That Efron also shares an easy chemistry with Schilling helps sell this love story. Plenty of deep, passionate smooches feature throughout, but they would mean nothing if Hicks didn’t let the love story blossom and characters evolve, silly attributes and all.

It’s hard to say what The Lucky One would have been like under a different director, yet under Hick’s it’s the best possible film a Nicholas Sparks novel could be.