An enjoyably silly thrill-ride
If we were to believe what we see in the movies, the future is unbearably bleak. Alongside the threat of asteroids (Deep Impact), a new ice age (The Day After Tomorrow), and an annual murder day (The Purge), we now have reason to fear a lottery win, thanks to Jackpot!, a new comedy from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig.
The movie is set in 2030 and stars Awkwafina as Katie Kim, an aspiring actress who comes to LA to make it big in Hollywood. On arrival, she’s unaware of something called the ‘Grand Lottery,’ which is something the Californian government set up several years previously to combat a global recession.
As per the rules of this lottery, one lucky winner is chosen at random to win millions of dollars in prize money. Well, we say ‘lucky.’ The person picked for the prize doesn’t necessarily get to keep it as the rules allow for another resident of the city to claim it as their own if they can kill the winner before sundown. Sounds harsh, right? Here’s hoping our own governments don’t follow suit and try to replicate the same ‘game’ in our own communities.
Katie discovers the existence of the lottery when she is chosen to be the winner. When the LA locals become aware of this fact, they start to attack her en masse, though Katie, who is surprisingly agile and combat proficient, is able to take them down in style.
A little way into the movie, she is joined by Noel (John Cena), a freelance lottery protection agent who helps winners in exchange for 10% of their jackpot. He’s a nice guy with a reason for getting into the protection business that is actually quite sweet. He’s considerate of the people he takes down – sometimes giving them a crash helmet to save them from an injury – which gives Katie a reason to put her trust in the man who is one of only a few people in LA not wanting to kill her.
As the movie plays out, Katie is chased throughout the city by hordes of LA denizens who come at her like ravenous zombies. This sets the scenes for lots of fun action sequences, wherein Katie and Noel fight off the desperate and greedy with their wits, their fists, and a variety of makeshift weapons, including the waxwork model heads of the Kardashians.
The fight choreography is mostly excellent although there are times when it’s clear invisible wires are being used to propel the stunt people through the air. This isn’t too a big deal, as the movie’s action scenes are cartoonish in execution, so we shouldn’t fault the movie’s battle scenes too much for their occasional lack of realism.
The first half of the film is the most enjoyable, largely thanks to the freshness of the premise and the chemistry of Awkwafina and John Cena who prove to be a hilarious double act. Awkwafina gets some of the best lines in the movie, usually when throwing friendly put-downs Cena’s way. At one point, she compares his face to a giant human ear, and in a later scene, she compares his appearance to that of a bulldog which has been turned into a human by a witch! Let’s hope Cena didn’t take these insults too seriously!
Around the midway point of the movie, we’re introduced to a guy named Lewis who runs an ‘official’ protection agency for lottery winners. Played by Simu Liu, who previously starred alongside Awkwafina in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, this character is a slimy individual who doesn’t have Katie’s best interests at heart. This is something we soon discover but not before she uses his prosthetic face-masking machine that masks her appearance in typically comic fashion.
After an hour or so of fast and frantic action, the movie slows down to a crawl when we learn the truth about Lewis and his motivations for wanting to ‘help’ Katie. Plot logic starts to take a backseat, not that there was much of it to begin with. And the movie turns a little sappy, especially during a scene when Katie and Noel share with one another pieces of their tragic backstories.
These are minor quibbles as once the chatter is over, the movie gears up for a madcap conclusion wherein Noel shows his incredible fighting prowess while strapped to a chair and Katie engages in a death-defying battle high up in the rafters of the Hollywood Theatre. There’s also a great cameo from Machine Gun Kelly who once again proves himself to be a very competent actor, even though he’s essentially playing himself in this film.
Jackpot! isn’t a movie you should spend a lot of time thinking about, even when it throws in a bit of social commentary to give the story some depth. It’s less a political satire and more a live-action cartoon that is good, silly fun, thanks in large part to its two stars who throw themselves into their parts (sometimes quite literally) with great enthusiasm.
The movie is available to stream on Prime Video now and comes recommended, especially if you’re a fan of its two stars and in the mood for a relaxing night in with a movie that doesn’t require a lot of brain power.
Read More: Jackpot! Ending Explained
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10