Jackpot! (2024)
Directed by: Paul Feig
Premise: Set in the near future, California has devised a state lottery in which the citizens can collect a portion of the prize by killing the winner before sundown. An aspiring actress (Awkwafina) wins the lottery and befriends a bodyguard (John Cena).
What Works: The concept of Jackpot! has some interesting political implications. The conceit dramatizes a society in which everyone is out for themselves. The filmmakers connect that overall critique to the entertainment industry. The story is set in Los Angeles and is focused on an actress who is auditioning when she gets notified that she is the winner and therefore has a bounty on her head. Given the lottery nature of celebrity and Hollywood success, Jackpot! visualizes how fame and money changes the way we look at people and the way the culture hopes for them to fail. Jackpot! is led by Awkwafina and John Cena as the lottery winner and her bodyguard and their relationship is first one of professional necessity but it gradually becomes friendly. Their burgeoning friendship is an effective counterpoint to everyone else’s murderous greed and Awkwafina and Cena are agreeable together.
What Doesn’t: Jackpot! is an attempt to make a lighthearted version of The Purge or Battle Royale and therein lies the problem. This concept is inherently dark and cynical but filmmaker Paul Feig insists upon a light visual and comic tone. This is a movie about a society in which the masses are willing to murder one of their fellow citizens to collect a cash prize. That might have worked with the pitch and energy of American Psycho, Natural Born Killers, or the better entries of The Purge series. Jackpot! never gives into the inherent violence and meanness and absurdity of the conceit. The filmmakers take a cartoonish approach that never works. This is an R-rated film but only because of its language. It otherwise feels very PG-13 in a way that lacks any edge. The concept of Jackpot! is poorly thought out and never makes much sense. The story supposes the government has created a lottery system to convince desperate citizens to turn over their money and the murderous angle ensures that no one can ever collect. It’s an absurdly overcomplicated premise made worse by other implausibilities. The rules of the lottery require that no one use any guns. This caveat is disconnected from the reality of life in the United States and it’s very obviously been included to prolong the story. These unbelievable details might be surmountable if the film were more exciting or involving but the approach to the characters and the material keeps the viewer at arm’s length.
Disc extras: Available on Amazon Prime Video.
Bottom Line: Jackpot! sabotages a potentially interesting idea with a succession of bad creative choices. Paul Feig is a good filmmaker but Jackpot! is a bad pairing of a script with a director.
Episode: #1010 (August 25, 2024)