Jackpot!2024.
Directed by: Paul Feig.
Starring Awkwafina, John Cena, Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, Seann William Scott, Dolly de Leon, Donald Elise Watkins, Michael Hitchcock, Becky Ann Baker, Sam Asghari, Leslie David Baker, Murray Hill, Adam Ray, Taylor Ortega, Holmes and Machine Gun Kelly.
SUMMARY:
In the near future, a new “grand lottery” is to be set up in California – the catch: the winner must be killed before sunset in order to legally claim his multi-billion dollar jackpot.
UnderstandablyThe collaboration of John Cena and Awkwafina with an experienced action comedy director will attract attention and be the selling point for Jackpot!. However, it is probably more appropriate to talk about the film’s screenwriter, Rob Yescombe, who has worked on films before but is also known for open-world sandbox video games such as The Division and the notoriously bad Rambo adaptation of this medium. This is because the concept here, which is a Clean-like scenario where murder of monthly billion-dollar jackpot winners is legal (no firearms allowed, although non-lethal firearms are acceptable), something that was introduced shortly thereafter in California for simplistic reasons that are never further explained beyond the text in the opening credits.
While the prologue revolves around the final winner (a glorified cameo by the always funny and reliable Seann William Scott) trying to stay alive until sundown when the hit goes off, you immediately get the feeling that perhaps this was intended to be some sort of online MMO at some point before Paul Feig teamed up with Rob Yescombe and worked out a cinematic collaboration. This in turn would explain how uninterested the story is in that core concept, and how it introduces an unnecessary final boss-type character who explores meaningless, generic backstories.
That’s not to say that sticking to the urgency of constant survival and escape and featuring every type of person imaginable from every profession on the hunt is a bad creative decision (everything about it just screams creating your character and doing whatever you can to kill the victor). Paul Feig largely takes advantage of this aspect by incorporating a variety of settings for staging carnage, whether in a prop museum, a stage theater, or street chases. He also has two charismatic leads at the center who can carry the film despite these other flaws.
Aspiring actress Katie (Awkwafina) has just returned to California after the tragic death of her mother, who had taken care of her for the past few years after her father abandoned her, and who had helped her discover her love of film and acting as a child. Katie is dealing with a selfish, self-centered and greedy Airbnb host (Ayden Mayeri) and is forced to meet with a talent agency. She borrows some of the host’s clothes (you can see Katie’s clothes getting dirty), unaware that there is an electronic lottery device in the pants that she inadvertently activates and that detects her identity, despite never having done anything to enter such a program.
That’s just the beginning of the enormous suspension of disbelief required here, because when Katie unwittingly becomes the winner and all of California tries to kill her, she’s never even heard of this sweepstakes. There’s an offhand remark that tries to chalk this up to the fact that she’s been so focused on movies and her mother that she’s apparently never gotten around to reading the news in recent years. Anyway, the idea here, which doesn’t go beyond a superficial metaphor, is that Katie will quickly find out what it’s like to be some sort of celebrity.
Katie’s first brush with death in this talent agency operation finds her encountering John Cena’s mercenary for Hie Noel, who offers his services as long as she agrees to share the profits with him should she survive until sunset. As expected, Awkwafina has plenty of time for witty quips, though it does come across as contrived at times. Meanwhile, John Cena pulls off his overly polite act, remaining calm and collected even when attacked. And while they have a pretty decent conversation and do amusing things (Noel trying to put out flames in someone’s groin by stomping on it springs to mind), there’s also nothing special that makes this pair the incredibly inspired couple they seem to be on paper. A little credit goes to the stunt work, as most of the fights and chases here are pleasantly practical.
Still, the killers keep coming and coming until a pretty solid nod to a joke gives Katie and Noel a temporary refuge that I won’t give away. They grow closer and then find themselves in a protection agency run by Simu Liu’s Louis Lewis, where the concept once again falters and is replaced by this weak attempt at characterization that largely results in some decisions that make no sense. Most importantly, it’s important to highlight how boring and pointless the backstory on these characters becomes here. From the reasoning behind this lottery to the action and humor at its center to the thin storytelling, Jackpot! Certainty has golden moments, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
Assessment of the flickering myth – Film: ★ ★ / Cinema: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the reviews editor at Flickering Myth. Find new reviews here, follow my Þjórsárdalur or Letterboxd, or email me at [email protected]
