Review of “Jackpot!” (2024): Something of Comedy and Action

Overview

Jackpot! is an 2024 American action-comedy film which was written by Rob Yescombe and was directed by Paul Feig. Members of the cast are Awkwafina, John Cena, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Sam Asghari and Simu Liu. Katie and Michelle’s – played by Awkwafina – story unfolds around the main plot of the film characterizes by the protagonist’s winning of $3. To that end, we now present Gamers: 6 billion lottery in the future California. But the catch is that for her the day turns to sundown in which she has to ensure that she is alive and anyone who has a losing lottery ticket can try and kill her and take the money. While being a movie with a great potential, it is as much entertaining as it is still unbalanced.

Plot Summary
”Jackpot!” is a futuristic story in a world where the center of the United States of America has become a dangerous place due to the Grand Lottery, established by the government in the year 2030 just as California turned into dystopia, because of financial crisis. It is not a normal lottery; the only condition is that the survivor should manage to live until dusk; everybody else is permitted to try and kill the survivor then be awarded the prize. Katie Kim played by Awkwafina is a Korean-American woman who comes to LA to revive her childhood career of acting. Being ignorant of the rules that are governing the Grand Lottery of death she wins a whopping $3. 6 billion.

Once Katie wins she becomes everyone’s punching bag and her greedy roommates; Shadi and DJ are no exception. Meet Noel Cassidy (John Cena), a freelance lottery protection agent, who tries to assist Katie to stayalive, as he also demands to receive some percentage of the lotter winnings. Altogether, they fight in a brutal and dangerous world of the film’s Los Angeles, in order to escape from Katie and her hunters.

The story of the film keeps an audience on an exciting roller coaster, depicting an extraordinary number of staking scenes – from a wax museum to a mansion and ending with a theater. The two are able to fend of the night by perhaps the resourcefulness of Katie and the muscle of Noel. The final scene suggests that with the money of the gained in the lottery, Katie and Noel start a new life, open some stores and even protection service.

Production
“Jackpot!” started being in development from March 2023 under the title of “Grand Death Lotto. “Amazon Studios started the project with Paul Feig onboard as the director who worked with both comedy and action movie preferences. This script was written by Rob Yescombe and was appreciated by prominent movie makers like Joe Roth, Jeff Kirschenbaum as well as Laura Fischer and the movie stars renowned actors like John Cena, Zack Roth and Yescombe in the position of executive producers. Production of the movie was mainly done in Shadowbox Studios in Atlanta Georgia, and the shooting started in march 2023.

Cast and Performances
”Jackpot!” is quite rich when it comes to cast and the main roles are played by Awkwafina and John Cena. I really liked how Awkwafina portrayed the character of Katie; she is both sensitive and funny at the same time. She has good on-screen chemistry with John Cena who portrays the in-your-face protector Noel Cassidy. That is why Cena appeared to be both likable and threatening as his character embodies the best of physical comedy and lightheartedness, that are invaluable in the world of wrestling.

Interestingly, the character of Louis Lewis – the head of the Lewis Protection Agency is portrayed by Simu Liu which gives a twist to the film. His character is also involved in delivering most of the plots twists due to his rather grey nature. The remaining characters played by Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins and Sam Asghari add to the crazy and comical tone of the movie, however some of them don’t seem fully developed.

Reception

This show premiered on the Amazon MGM Studios’ Prime Video on August 15, 2024 and it was received with mediocre criticism from critics. Thus, the film received 32% of the approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 4 points on average. 7/10. Thus, the overall consensus of the critics was as follows: If all these brilliant people managed to deliver such film it means that pacing of the movie is inconsistent and it does not utilize the potential of an interesting plot and concept that was given to it by the writers.

The same can be observed in the Metacritic as it has 41/100 rating and therefore it qualifedly as “Mixed or average” according to the critics. To some critics, while it contains either some brilliant moments within the many facets of ‘Jackpot!’ especially in the action and the likable leads, the problem lies in the film’s inability to find a balance between dark comedy and action thriller genres.

Conclusion

Every movie fan would surely appreciate ‘’Jackpot!’’ as it is an ambitious project that involves action comedy with dystopian future as the background. Despite moments of occasional levity courtesy of Awkwafina and John Cena the movie never quite reaches what it could have been. Unfortunately, the story of the film remains unbalanced and one can notice pacing problems that are not letting the movie become as great as it possibly might have been given the concept. It should be noted that though “Jackpot!” is an action comedy, it will hardly be appreciated by viewer that is a fan of the genre at that it was aimed – it could be recommended for watching, but is unlikely to impress.