Jackpot

Movie Name: Jackpot
Year of Release: 2024
Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Awkwafina, John Cena, Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Sam Ashgari, Monique Ganderton, Steven Shelby, John Santiago, Murray Hill, Becky Ann Baker, Colson Baker, Imani Love
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

Since the release of his take on "Ghostbusters" in 2016, writer/producer/director Paul Feig has directed various films, without managing to create the connection and celebration that his prior endeavors garnered, namely "The Heat" and "Spy". "Jackpot", which is written by Rob Yescombe (who has made a name for himself as a writer of video games), takes place in 2030 in Los Angeles and follows the story of Katie, who is recently arrived in the city, following the passing of her mother. Katie was a child actress, and had to change the gears of her life when her mom became ill and she became the primary caregiver for her (her father stole Katie's earnings from her child acting days and disappeared). Katie is giving acting another shot, but soon realizes that competition has gotten fiercer, and people have also gotten worse (she's robbed on a bus by an elderly woman). Following a series of misadventures, which includes a shoddy Air BNB and a particularly harsh audition, she inadvertently enters and wins the Lottery, which currently has a Jackpot of 3.6 billion dollars. What she doesn't realize is that the government of California has changed the rules of the game on the lottery: namely, anyone with a losing ticket can kill the winner and claim the prize, with the exception being the use of guns. Katie becomes a target for everyone in the city. She gets rescued by Noel Cassidy, a freelance protection agent who offers his services and his protection against 10% of her winnings. Literally everyone wants to kill her, including police officers, her host at the rotten Air BNB, the lady from the bus, everyone. Initially reticent to trust Noel, she decides to accept his deal, and they both try to escape the murderous mobs, until LPA, a high tech protection agency comes into the game, with an agenda of their own. 

"Jackpot" looks and feels like a Netflix release, or I should say, what has become a straight to streaming release, only in this case, straight to Amazon Prime release. A few years back there were the straight to video releases, and now we have this upgraded version of that type of feature (well upgraded in terms of platform, not in terms of quality). Suffice to say, this is a film that feels crudely developed and very light on jokes and comedic settings, even if it features two of the most naturally iconic and funny performers currently working, Awkwafina and John Cena. The film is basically populated with crudely outlined characters, none of which have a semblance of real existence or authenticity. Even Shawn Levy's "Free Guy" which took place inside an actual video game had characters that actually felt more like genuine individuals than any of these do. What we have here is an interesting concept: "win the lottery, possibly get killed", which is poorly developed, and fails to have actual characters to carry through the threadbare narrative that is built out around that concept. Chase films can be hilarious and anarchic (who can forget Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"), but this film fails to have that kind of energy, and it also fails as a criticism of the consumerism, rampant capitalism, or complete disregard about people's lives that exist these days. The film mostly stays afloat since Awkwafina and John Cena have good chemistry and they make most of this collection of scenes watchable. The supporting cast is quite forgettable, and the production team employed on this film seems to have had literally no budget for anything (this is possibly one of the worst looking films I've seen in a while). This film is both avoidable and unnecessary, though at least not offensively bad.