Jackpot! (2024)

Listen to this post:

Paul Feig’s Jackpot! asks a strange question: what if a film combined the maddash comedy of 1963’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with the gory dystopian free-for-all premise of The Purge? You’d get a weird action-comedy that’s more of a vehicle for Awkwafina and John Cena that’s occasionally very funny, until it’s not. I couldn’t help but think that a few years back, something like this might have had a chance of becoming a minor hit in theaters. But in today’s oversaturated streaming market it’s likely destined to become one of those comedies you take a chance on and come away thinking “it’s OK”.

via YouTube

Katie Kim (Awkwafina), a former child actor best known for spaghetti-themed commercials, returns to Los Angeles after a long absence of caring for her sick mother to re-enter the world of acting. But it’s not going well for Katie, from being catfished into staying at an crappy Airbnb run by Shadi (Ayden Mayeri), an unscrupulous host, and her idiotic boyfriend DJ (Donald Elise Watkins), she gets mugged on a bus and taken for a ride at scammy casting calls. Katie’s cluelessness is also used to explain how California came to adopt the Grand Lottery, a ruthless game where a person is randomly selected to become the “winner” of Lottery Day, with the grand prize worth millions of dollars.

The catch? Anyone with a “losing” ticket can viciously kill the “winner” (using anything but guns) and claim the prize for themselves. After Katie accidentally “wins” Lottery Day she stands to score the biggest Lottery Day prize in history, a huge $3.6 billion. If she survives, that is. She immediately becomes the target for throngs of murdering “fans”, and it’s here a strange beefy man named Noel (John Cena), a “lottery protection agent”, appears out of nowhere to save her, dispatching the money-crazed fans by non-violent means (a plot point that will come up again) while upselling Katie on further protection from the mob – and taking only a 10 percent cut.

Distrustful of Noel at first, the two quickly bond as Katie learns why she’s suddenly become the most popular person in Los Angeles, as well as the reasons behind Noel’s seemingly benevolent behavior towards their would-be murderers. Just when she thinks all is lost, Noel informs Katie of an escape clause from the Lottery; survive until sundown or forfeit the reward by leaving the city. If you can, that is.

From here Jackpot becomes mostly an action-comedy chase, with a never-ending deluge of bloodless battle royales with diminishing returns. There’s decent fun with Awkwafina’s barrage of one-liners while Cena takes out endless attackers, even if they’re sloppily choreographed, and I caught myself laughing at some of the cheaper jokes when I really shouldn’t have (especially the one where Cena brushes off Katie’s concerns over smashing their car into a dead-end (“I’ve seen deader”).

Eventually, the duo run into Louis Lewis (Simu Liu), head of the appropriately named Lewis Protection Agency, who Noel has a troubled history with, who then try to assume the role as Katie’s protectors, all while disparaging Noel. Once the film establishes Shadi and DJ as the lead villains the premise is running on fumes, and the comedy mostly degenerates into bad celebrity references that rarely hit.

Awkwafina and John Cena make a decent comedy team, each able to play off each others’ best (and worst) characteristics. As with last year’s Quiz Lady, Jackpot again demonstrates Awkwafina shines best in R-rated comedies where she’s more vulnerable than girlboss. Cena continues to deliver decent comedic performances that riff off his own buff persona, but like the Rock it’s a gimmick that’s starting to wear a little thin.

I can’t say much else about the rest of the cast, minus an occasionally funny Simu Liu, as most were utterly forgettable and, generally speaking, not that funny. I’m sure there are casting agents that think these comedians are absolutely hilarious, but they certainly weren’t in this movie.

This is a Paul Feig comedy (Bridesmaids, Spy, Ghostbusters 2016), and I suspected there was much improvisation rather than scripted comedy, and the outtakes that play during the closing credits confirm we dodged all the bullets. Despite the screenplay being credited to Rob Yescombe (whose resume is mostly video game stuff) it feels like a framework to let the actors ad-lib their own material, and the leftovers are painfully unfunny, the different takes showing them trying out variations of lame “jokes”. Note to producers: outtakes should be irreverent aloofness, not actors trying out material. Skip the credits and you’ll probably come away with a decent opinion of Jackpot!