Movie Review: Jackpot

John Cena, Awkwafina and Simu Liu! Leggoo.

Quick Recap

In a dystopian California, a lucky, unlucky lottery winner with a down on his luck protector must find a way to survive through multiple murder attempts until sundown when they can claim the jackpot.

The Plot

We’ve had tons of popular dystopian-theme movies which shared some disturbing traits of the higher echelon vs the poor masses. Hunger Games is one example. The Divergent trilogy is another. There’s also Maze Runner, Mad Max and so on.

Not to create a list but dystopian movies exist and I sincerely didn't know what to expect with this plot. “What could they possibly think up?” I asked myself.

The answer came to me while watching and I enjoyed it. It’s funny how something so disturbing can be entertaining as well. The idea of killing for the lottery before a given time brings back memories of the Purge and was so intense I remember praying for Katie Kim (Awkwafina).

The Cast

Cena

Since his wrestling days, Cena has tried to stay relevant in the comedy scene and has done a great job at it. He’s a funny guy who knows he’s funny and has decided to channel that energy into fun family movies that are safe for everyone to watch.

He brought that same energy here with an added bit of emotional feel that made him so admiable and almost too good to be true. As Noel, he was a badass protector and an even better friend through their pursuit.

Awkwafina

Awkwafina is a great actress and a fun character to watch. Here, we got to see more than just the funny as she also showed the pain behind her story and her reason for lack of trust. Her quips were insanely hilarious and her comebacks even better.

Every insult she threw at Cena was a hit.😂🤣

Simu Liu

Simi’s bad guy vibe is seriously growing on me as I enjoy watching him be bad rather than Ken-like. First time I saw this was in Atlas where he starred as a rogue AI. Now, we see him as Louis, a disturbingly menacing protector whose sole purpose is to gain the lottery through deceit and cover-up murder.

This will be his second time acting with Awkwafina as the last time we saw them was in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings where they had camaraderie as they tried to survive his insane father’s plans to bring back his late mother.

What Ifs

Naturally, I had my reserves about certain scenes which I knew could have ended the movie had they gone my way.

The Panic room

For a normal thinking person, the best idea would have been to lock MGK in the room with them. Even Noel (Cena) mentioned how he could easily share the passcode, but Fina instead chose to knock him out with a dart that could easily be reversed by water.

Side note: Kudos to Shadi for that quick thinking. She must have had a ton of experience with waking fully drugged men.

That panic room was their saving grace and she messed it up. But again, if she had dragged MGK in, the movie would have ended in that room, and I very much prefer how it ended.

The Uber Driver

I’ve always believed that people built panic rooms in case of emergencies and as such they should be treated with some level of secrecy. I couldn’t understand why the driver would share such sensitive information with a random passenger. Plus, I’m sure this was not her first time even doing so. Anyhoo, her blabbing bought them some time and built into the second-half of the story.

My Thoughts

Many people may watch this and laugh at all the comedic additions, quips and even special appearance by Machine Gun Kelly, but underneath it all is a reality many nations are facing.

The fact that people refused to fight against those that even put the law in place and would rather kill the lottery winner spoke a lot about the manipulative power of hunger and poverty which can be used to wield control.

In a split second, every nice person, even the ice cream guy and cute teddy mascot all turned vicious, raising weapons to kill the lottery winner.

As I watched it with my family, we kept suggesting how they could have easily ganged up to save her and then ask for a percentage, just like Cena did. It's disheartening that things like that could actually happen in nations where hunger, strife and a lack of opportunities push people to show their evil sides.

It's also worth noting that the people were the reason the lottery price kept rising and stocks kept skyrocketing. They had, through their obedience to kill, enabled the bad government, enriching the rich and impoverishing the poor.

$3.6 Billion is a lot of money and many would be willing to kill for it, but if it were me, I would try to protect her instead and ask for a cut later. It was relieving to find that some people were against the lottery-winner killings and instead chose to help.

A sign that even in the bleakest situations, some good people still thrive. The Museum guard was my first hint at goodness and finding others cheering her on gave me hope. Their help could not have come at a better time.

Spending The Money

Cowabunga!
I love what she did with her money. The idea of an organization that protects lottery-winners for free will indirectly affect the prize because now less people will be willing to go after the winner.

This would also affect the price because the less the interest in the lottery, the more the government suffers loss.

Everything would disrupt the power they wield and maybe give the masses a chance.

To Watch or Not to Watch?

I try to ignore Rotten Tomatoes rating when it comes to movies, the same way I avoid trailers. The ratings may be low but it’s a fun, entertaining and hilarious movie to watch.

You don't need to overthink to guess the bad guy or uncover some secret plot as it'll be revealed to you.

I most definitely would recommend watching for fun and laughs.