Ah, so it’s a film about a grand lottery scheme in which the winner must survive to retain the jackpot earnings. Man, those Purge and Hunger Games influences couldn’t be fitting enough. Wait, what’s that? You have twenty-four hours to survive if picked as the winner. Oh man, now it feels borderline derivative for another anemic action comedy! Oh, but one of the rules is no guns, so it’s time for a melee spree with any weapon onhand. Or cars to run you down with molotovs if you dare try to escape.
So why is everyone going after Ms. Katie Kim (played by Awkwafina) in this intriguing yet illogical premise? Well, the plot details that in the year 2030, the former actress stumbles upon the murderous state of California, where each year, all the contestants have their phones and knives on standby to see who becomes chosen as the lottery winner. Surveillance cameras, drones, tracking devices, you name it, chase down the poor soul who has to fight until sundown to acquire the amount of money listed. Katie inadvertently wins the lottery of $3.6 billion, leading every soul in the streets of Los Angeles to fight her down or others for her bounty. She stumbles into Noel (John Cena), who offers to protect her in exchange for 10% of her earnings. Together, they race across the time against police, “friends,” the general public, and rival protection agencies (one led by Simu Liu’s Louie Lewis) to make it to sundown.
If the script was an exhilarating satire on paper, something exciting and fun would be had here. Instead, screenwriter Rob Yescombe crafts up an otiose idea that reflects a half-baked narrative and a whirlwind of tones that don’t pan out in a linear, exciting fashion. Yours indeed may have tried to stop cachinnating witnessing Awkwafina and John Cena fighting random folks and screaming with profanity each moment. Still, it comes to a deflating stop as the rounds stay repetitive, and the comedy doesn’t carry the weight. Don’t get it wrong: both leads have fun chemistry and could easily lead any comedy of a given day if the rules were a tad more looser.
The implications surrounding the affairs of this lottery hunt seem like a missed opportunity as well, a chance for director Paul Feig to poke fun at the scattered state of politics rampaging in the major cities across America. Nope, we’re witnessing a failing actress win a moment by sheer luck and stumble upon a protection agent who might’ve been best suited to chase her for the whole movie with his agenda. The always-lovable John Cena knows he can have a blast, even though he’s not being pushed to the limits we know and have witnessed here (when his best work remains in The Suicide Squad and subsequent Peacemaker series, Blockers, and Trainwreck).
A zany energy dispersed throughout its runtime yet excised by a dodgy script, Jackpot! misses the landing for stopping to hunt down some earnings.
