Jackpot! 2024

Jackpot!-2024
Jackpot! 2024

“Jackpot!” expresses turning heads as a mediocre action-comedy film. Directed by Paul Feig (“Spy”), it centers around Avram “Abe” Wurmfeld, a struggling writer, and is set in Los Angeles in the not-so-distant future which seems an implication as the film goes on. The state of California has a lottery system in place but for some reason has legalized the hunting of the winners and killing them in their attempts to claim their wealth. There are some limitations put forth to these hunting games all of which seem absurd. One is: that competitors must be ticket-holders who lost in a previous draw. Another rule is: that there are no rifles allowed. A third is that the contest phase will only persist for 24 hours. If the original winner has made it through the time limit, they are the rightful owners of the lottery prize. Kniestyle records no restrictions on weapons. Known participants can use knives, clubs, broken bottles, bats, chains, rubber hoses, and perhaps mop handles and automobiles. Despite the fact that I do not remember anyone attempting to use a car deliberately, it seems odd with hindsight. They are strong enough to go hunting alone or in groups and even in very big numbers.

In the new hunt, Awkwafina plays Katie Kim who is a former actress and was caring for her mother in another state until recently. She was also fatherless sometime before. Their parents consider her due to not being able to complete either.

In order to justify why she does not know anything about her native California state lottery quickly developing into a murderous episode (we’re told she’ spends time with her mom, which is true, that’s the explanation) and also why it is appropriate to sympathize with her (apart of the fact that like some of the previous winners, Mrs. Harris does not deserve to be treated like the game of the hunt; no one does). As fate would have it, Katie acquires a winning ticket almost inadvertently and does not even know about its existence until her number is called during an audition, which she fails to succeed in, and suddenly everyone looks at her as a wolf in a cartoon fantasizing about chops.

It looks like there are people who hunt for lotteries just like a lion hunts a deer. Still, this movie is only a small detail; it features the security people who track down chatty losers and offer them security for a portion of their winnings. Starring in that role, is John Cena as Noel, a likable tough guy. He used to work for this very successful company run by a hotheaded Louie Lewis (Simu Liu). He prevents Katie from being killed at the audition, when most of the inhabitants of the building, some of the other actresses, and a gym full of karate students have decided it is time to kill her. The only kind of stage combat she was ever taught was limited; her instincts are sufficient, but she does not have the proper techniques. It’s a good thing Noel is there otherwise, she would be a goner. And as for Katie, if he were to die then there would be a cliché hero, a broad-chinned strongman. (Although he has a background which of course Katie will be able to tease out of him. Gradually).

Written by Rob Yescombe, who mainly dealt with video games before, ‘Jackpot!’ does not have any relation to reality, quite the opposite, that is the intention. It has all the ingredients of a video game in its play pattern, a monotony that gradually builds up the pace to culminate into a Big Boss fight.

There’s a great deal of painfully forced comedic relief that occasionally works, but how many people whip out their phones to capture a bad practice in acting? The result is a film that is more of a silly mockery rather than a serious political satire.

It definitely seems intent on not probing deeper into the existential context of the situation that is being depicted, where the lottery hunting contest is the obvious end stage of a culture that has totally abandoned the principles of virtue and dignity and instead has decided to commercialize the worst aspects of humanity. When Katie books a Micronesia from a website and when she arrives, it dawns on her that the room is nothing like what was showcased on the website, the young girl ready to rent the room, unfortunately, called Shadi (Ayden Mayeri) smirks and says, we used fake pictures, because what other way is there to rent this room. To start with, chess even narratively takes over the role of a common childhood patient when Katie still hopes to get the attention she deserves, and is shown on stage, filmed by a shameless father who exclaims in anger and despair at another audition failure of his little child: “Sorry about all the f.. mouth words.

On the other hand, Becky Ann Baker, the middle-aged actress of the ‘ace’ character alongside Kate plays very briefly Guess what this film could look like.

She records the inner smile of the pro predator when he manages to fool the person who trusts him which is the evil lurking deep within every human in the form of an eye’s sparkle but revealed only to those who are aware and observant enough to take a peek.

However, with a few exceptions, the movie is far shallower than its best character moments. We do not understand why state allows for hunting lotteries of people to be legal; as with the many other things in these Purge movies, it appears an exercise perhaps requiring a large mess and a great deal of clean up afterward is worthwhile in letting society even periodically blow off some steam but frankly, this is not the kind of movie where one is expected to think anything other than “Haha, that was a good line”, “Ouch, that must have hurt!”, or “Great stunt, man!.”

Somewhere in these threads, there might be a semblance of a script that could have formed the basis for an outrageous action comedy along the lines of “Robocop”, or maybe “Battle Royale” or “The Running Man.” It is this set of expectations that kept running through my mind as I finished watching Jackpot! – one difference is that the film in question is so bitterly cynical that it has transcended its complaint stage and dumbed down to an ‘It is what it is’ level. Old Boy had a vision and that vision was: ‘Do not limit your aggression to the story between the characters’. It also understood the importance of planning out the action sequences, something that Feig has not been known for – it’s not really been one of his key concerns (although decent moments exist in ‘Spy’, like the kitchen fight).

The two do seem to have a lovely time shooting together, they do have good chemistry – Kate Micucci, Rae’s co-star also enjoyed getting to know the actor onscreen – but in his case, he did not have a storyline that challenged him the way James Gunn argued with Cena in two superhero projects that were artistically ambitious, “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker.” And even more so, there was a call for Alice Wu in “The Farewell”. Most parts of this film hardly provoke thought and action and treat the world and the sensibilities it is ridiculing with the same amount of disdain that is vivid in the narration.

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