‘Jackpot!’ Review: Awkwafina & John Cena Fight Off Lotto Fever Gone Berserk In Action Comedy That Forgot The Laughs
Jackpot! is a Jackie Chan movie desperately in need of Jackie Chan.
An homage to the great international action comedy star from screenwriter Rob Yescombe, a video game writer-designer now turning to the big screen, this over-the-top frenetic stew not only lacks Chan to make it hum, it also lacks any sense of credibility in order to keep us engaged with its absurd premise.
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Set in a decaying Los Angeles (Atlanta subs for it) in 2026 — two years from now, when the filmmakers apparently think America has gone to hell — we are introduced right from the start to the Grand Lottery, a contest that promises untold riches to whoever can survive actually winning it and avoid being killed by the rabid citizenry. But if they succeed in knocking you off within 24 hours, they will get the money promised by your ticket. Think of it as sort of a comedic Purge. Thus, Rugged Man Seann William Scott is in a battle for his life that ends when a kindly older woman (Dolly De Leon) succeeds in offing him and thereby is greeted by Johnny Grand (Murray Hill), the flashy emcee of the lottery who arrives at her doorstep with a check for $22 million.
Cut to 2030 and the game is still on, this time for an unsuspecting former child star, Katie (Awkwafina), who is down and depressed by lack of acting roles and now only recognized for an old SpaghettiO’s commercial as she arrives back in Hollywood. Staying at an Airbnb run by Shadi (Ayden Mayeri), another aspiring actress, things go from bad to worse when sewage from the upper-floor apartment leaks all over her clothes, forcing her to pay for the use of Shadi’s less-than-attractive wardrobe in time to get to an audition to turn her life around. Unbeknownst to her, a Grand Lottery ticket is still in one of the pockets, and as she leaves the disastrous audition it goes off, and she is holding the winning prize and immediately is identified as the winner of the $3.6 billion pot.
All the other hopefuls in the casting office start to attack her, leading to another showdown with a group of black belts nearby. She then relentlessly is pursued through the city, even watched by overhead drones. Among those out to kill her is Shadi, who rightly feels it was her ticket, and even the nice old woman (Becky Ann Baker) Katie met on the bus is on her tail. You get the impression everyone in L.A. is a greedy potential hit man in search of the person whose luck isn’t so lucky.
Coming to the rescue is a well-meaning protector, Noel (John Cena), who offers to help her survive in return for a cut of her winnings. They get into all sorts of peril — Katie conveniently has no end of martial arts skills — before Noel’s very slick competition Louis Lewis (Simu Liu), noticing she has some ace survival instincts, comes in for a piece of the action with his large staff and much more professional lottery protection company. Katie won’t buy into it until he also promises Noel a generous portion as well. Turns out Lewis really is just out for himself and has no intention of letting Katie live, so all bets are off as hell on Earth truly breaks out for Katie and Noel.
Disappointingly, Paul Feig, the comedy maestro of the likes of Bridesmaids, Spy, The Heat, A Simple Favor, and the all-female Ghostbusters, directs this zaniness but fails to rein it in for at least the first 40 minutes or so, which plays like a Roadrunner cartoon, one near-miss after another. It is exhausting before the non-stop action stops to take a breath and we get any semblance of character development. By then it really is too late. There is an occasional moment or two that might qualify as clever, notably a set piece inside a Hollywood Boulevard wax museum where the combatants use the celebrity figures as weapons including Kim Kardashian’s head, but it doesn’t get much better than that, folks.
Awkwafina takes on the Jackie Chan-style role and is talented enough to at least try to give her some dimension. Cena, continuing his new career turn as Amazon’s comedy star after the much funnier Ricky Stanicky, is as appealing as the circumstances allow. Liu is ideally cast as the villain and does what he can with the material, small praise indeed. Unfortunately for much of the rest of the cast, particularly Mayeri, they are all made out to be maniacal human beings with one thing on their mind: kill the Grand Lottery winner at all costs. Even Machine Gun Kelly aka Colson Baker turns up to no avail. The stunt performers are the real stars here, so give them an “A” for effort at least. James Young gets a key credit as action choreographer.
I get that Jackpot! in addition to its wacky premise also is trying to be a new age It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World , but that 60-year-old classic used its treasure hunt premise as a real comment on the human thirst for greed, and also never forgot how to mine for laughs in the process.
Here’s a thought: Next time why not just cast Jackie Chan and be done with it?
Producers are Laura Fischer, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Joe Roth and Feig.
TItle: Jackpot!
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
Release Date: August 15, 2024 (streaming on Prime Video)
Director: Paul Feig
Screenwriter: Rob Yescombe
Cast: Awkwafina, John Cena, Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Becky Ann Baker, Murray Hill, Seann William Scott, Dolly De Leon, Machine Gun Kelly
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr, 44 min
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