In Awkwafina’s new Prime Video comedy Jackpot, she performs a younger lady who wins a newly established lottery in California, the winnings of which include a hair-raising catch: To be able to dangle on to the money prize, the lottery recipient has to outlive an onslaught of jackpot hunters making an attempt to trace down and kill winner. And, in so doing, these hunters get to maintain the prize they steal. In different phrases, it’s form of The Starvation Video games meets Publishers Clearing Home.
It’s a form of wacky premise for a film, clearly, and it’s made all of the extra so by John Cena enjoying newbie lottery safety agent Noel Cassidy, whose job is to guard Awkwafina’s Katie Kim till sunset in trade for a bit of the lottery prize. Simu Liu can also be readily available as Cassidy’s rival Louis Lewis, who’s additionally angling for a bit of Katie’s prize. And that’s just about it. An unserious, action-oriented romp.
Directed by Paul Feig, Jackpot is presently the #1 title on Prime Video, forward of even The Boys. “We from the very starting have thought this may very well be a global franchise,” Feig mentioned in an interview with ComicBook, hinting that extra may very well be within the works. “It will be enjoyable to see what different nations do with their very own lottery.”
The screenplay for Jackpot was written by veteran videogame author and designer Rob Yescombe, who poured into the script the form of motion and bodily comedy that Feig has usually proclaimed his love of. “For me, creating really excessive stakes for the characters makes comedy funnier,” Feig explains in manufacturing notes that accompany the film. “The perfect comedy has hazard in it.
“For a contemporary viewers, and I embody myself in that, you want momentum. You must spend money on and care concerning the characters. This script had all that from the start. Plus, I knew I’d get to do loads of humorous stunts. After I was a child I dreamed about changing into a stuntman, so now I’m dwelling that vicariously.”
After all, as is de rigeur for giant streaming motion pictures at this level, the evaluations for Jackpot have been … not variety. On Rotten Tomatoes, it presently has a fairly horrible 33% critics’ rating and an almost as dangerous 49% viewers rating. Streaming has made it a lot simpler for mid motion pictures to search out an viewers today.
