I realize the expectation you have is that you have come here to hear me once again lament another misguided and mismanaged straight-to-streaming title, and I forgive you. These streamers, especially with the resurgence of the box office, are sending almost everything with a pulse to theatres. However, every once in a while one of these films just works for me. I’m not claiming this is some deep celluloid wonder that will be dissected in film schools for years to come. It was just fun.
Jackpot is exactly the kind of film we should be having during the summer. It is the perfect film for Amazon to throw into the theatrical ring. Stars Awkwafina and John Cena are marketable enough for an audience, and the plot is pretty simple, and a lot of fun.
Awkwafina plays a woman who has returned to Los Angeles after taking some time off to care for her ailing mother. She used to be a struggling actress, and she’s ready to struggle again. She was in a commercial back in the day, and that seems to be at least a conversation starter. Then everything changes when a lottery ticket she didn’t buy is in some clothes she’s borrowing, and she wins. But, this is not the jackpot she wants to win.
While she was away, Los Angeles adopted a Purge like lottery, where technically she has a chance at winning billions of dollars, but that’s only if she can survive the night. Because, during this lottery, anyone can steal her jackpot… by killing her. Enter John cena, as a do-gooder bodyguard, and he offers her a contract where he gets a percentage of the winnings if he can keep her alive. This unlikely pairing is perfect, as both Cena and Miss Fina have really made very specific paths for them to anchor comedies, and this film uses them both perfectly. Simu Liu (Shang Chi) also shows up as a much better funded bodyguard, when shit really starts to hit the fan.
I could probably find problems and pick this apart. I’m not even sure if this film looks like it was shot well, or if the visual effects are bad, but I was engaged and entertained the entire film. I could have watched more. i rarely leave a film thinking “that could have had 5-10 minutes more, and I would have still had fun.”
The audio description, which had three writers on it, was produced by the Media Access Group. I typically like their stuff, and the fast mostly hand-to-hand combat worked really well. Machine Gun Kelly makes a cameo as himself, and as someone who has tried to act before, he’s much better just playing a version of himself.
don’t go into this expecting some major cinematic achievement. Just hope that you can find something that will entertain you so much, and so consistently, that you forget you have a phone for however long the film is. that you can actually stay engaged the whole time, and not be worried about when it is, or what you need to do next. Jackpot literally turned my brain off and brought me fun for a short period of time. I would absolutely watch this again, and I am not ashamed of this grade in the least.
Final Grade: A-
