Imagine “The Purge” as a satire of Bidenomics!
We’ll have comedy maestro Paul Feig, famous for “Bridesmaids,” to direct and Awkwafina and John Cena as the leads.
What could go wrong? Try absolutely everything.
“Jackpot” is so bad that by the halfway point of the movie, your senses have been beaten into a stupor. The rest is neither good nor bad nor indifferent. It just exists and you wait patiently for the sweet release of the final credits.
And then you find yourself with a multitude of ungraceful mistakes. The pain… never ends.
Awkwafina plays Katie Kim, a former child star who returns to Los Angeles circa 2030 to revive her acting career. She literally hits the jackpot when she wins the California lottery, “The Purge” style. Yes, she’ll soon be a billionaire, but only if she lives long enough to take home the prize.
You see, this lottery allows anyone to kill the winner before nightfall and keep the money.
There are more absurd rules. You can’t shoot the lottery winner, but knives and other lethal instruments are fair game. And you can hire people to protect you during that vulnerable period after the announcement.
That’s where Noel (John Cena) comes in.
He’s happy to keep Katie safe in exchange for a percentage of her profits. He seems to be the only person in all of California who cares about her interests (and she can’t stop badmouthing him…). Everyone else is looking for the nearest weapon to take down Katie.
Hilarious, isn’t it? It’s even worse than it sounds.
You can’t win if you don’t play. Starring Awkwafina, John Cena and directed by Paul Feig, Jackpot! arrives August 15. 🎬 https://t.co/HeW9EjdOKi image.twitter.com/JECLP2NCFJ
— moviefone (@moviefone) August 12, 2024
First, we’re bombarded with third-rate “John Wick”-style action, where dozens and dozens of people try and fail to kill Katie in the first 20 minutes.
Housewives, yoga devotees, karate masters, everyone, everyone armed to the teeth.
Remember, this is Awkwafina, not the second coming of Rambo.
She is a petite actress (1.55 m according to Wikipedia) playing a character with no fighting ability, but who faces trained warriors who are twice her weight.
Noel’s fighting skills offer a logical balance to Katie’s quest for money, and he IS John Cena. Still, it’s absurd at first glance, and nowhere near humorous.
And that’s pretty much the movie. Yes, Shang Chi’s student Simu Liu shows up as a competing bodyguard who’s happy to fill in for Noel. It’s a mix of man’s inhumanity to man with one-liners peppering the script.
The film’s satirical potential is largely ignored.
Is this an attack on California? Technically, yes, but there is nothing in the script that allows for that premise to be developed. Could it be an attack on capitalism? Probably, but again the story lacks force.
It’s just ugly from start to finish.
The recurring gags fail the first time, but keep coming back as if to mock the audience. Katie’s irrational anger at Noel, the only soul who treats her kindly, makes us long for his quick demise.
She is the most irritating heroine of recent times, played by an actress with the most irritating voice in Hollywood.
Everyone tries so hard and gets no results. Even Cena, So funny in “Ricky Stanicky””, I can’t do much with his character.
Machine Gun Kelly appears halfway through the film playing himself, proving that “Jackpot” can actually, in some ways, get worse.
Hit or miss:“Jackpot” fails in so many ways that you may have to watch it twice to catch everything. But for the love of all that is holy… don’t.