You’ll find Paul Feig’s name attached to many of the best female-led comedies of the last twenty years, such as Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy just to name a few. Turns out with Jackpot! that he can also make a pretty good Stephen Chow-esque action-comedy, too. The lady gifted with Feig’s golden touch this time around is Awkwafina, who fast-talks her way from one over-the-top action sequence to the next. And the guy who plays her muscle-bound straight man? John Cena. A pair this funny can liven up just about any movie, but Jackpot! gives them exactly the kind of goofy premise they can go wild with.
The Purge has spawned a growing subgenre of dystopian comedies, and Jackpot! fits right in. Following the Great Depression of 2026, the state of California created the Grand Lottery, a contest that promises the winner untold riches…if they can survive long enough to claim it. See, the winner must stay alive for a day while other residents attempt to kill them and claim the prize for themselves. There are rules, of course. Well, one rule: no guns. And drones transmit your location constantly so hiding becomes a real bitch.
The film begins in earnest with a hilarious cameo by Seann William Scott (remember him??) as a doomed winner who gets taken out by a devious grandma (Dolly De Leon). It’s unfortunate that Katie (Awkwafina) wasn’t paying attention. She’s been busy caring for her sick mom to pay attention to California politics. Katie, an aspiring actress, hits Los Angeles and has no idea why the place has gone to shit. After a failed audition, Katie discovers a winning lottery ticket in the ridiculous golden outfit borrowed from her shady Airbnb host Shadi (Ayden Mayeri), and then wonders why all of the sudden she’s under attack by what looks to be the cast of Baywatch. Stumbling from there into a dojo where she’s instantly under threat by a bunch of wannabe Bruce Lees, Katie is rescued at the last moment by Noel (Cena), a well-dressed freelance lottery protection agent. He’ll keep Katie alive, for a price of course, and offers her a contract in one hand while fighting off karate dudes with the other.
You don’t know the name Rob Yescombe and that’s okay. He’s the Jackpot! screenwriter, and his background is in writing video games. Once you know that, the film makes a lot more sense because it exists as a sortof live-action video game where the action moves steadily from beat-to-beat with no breaks. The film’s best attribute, besides the instant motormouthed chemistry of Awkwafina and Cena, is how it blends comedy with cartoonish combat. In one sequence, the duo have somehow found their way into Machine Gun Kelly’s mansion and into his panic room because…why not? “Did I fall asleep in the pool again?”, MGK asks drunkenly after a watery awakening. In another they fight in a celebrity wax museum and use the statues as weapons. It might be Kim Kardashian’s (or her wax replica’s) best acting performance ever.
Katie and Noel grow closer as the intense day of fighting trucks along. She’s got trust issues that emerge later in the film, while Noel has his own tragic backstory that explains why he’s such a loner. Noel’s past involves Louis Lewis (played by Shang-Chi‘s Simu Liu), a former pal turned professional rival. Louis has corporatized the lottery protection business, and he swings to the rescue when Noel can no longer protect Katie on his own. But when it comes to big money, nobody can ever truly be trusted. Katie’s not done fighting for her life just yet. There are TV mascots, grandmothers, clergy, resentful actors, money-hungry Los Angelenos, and Shadi (justifiably pissed) to battle through first.
Cena has found a nice little niche for himself in lowbrow comedies (Blockers, Vacation Friends) that portray him as the most likeable everyman on Earth. Awkwafina delivers most of the laughs as Katie tries to wrap her brain around what’s happening. At one point she dons one of those Mission: Impossible masks to turn herself into a little Chinese man and elude her attackers. It’s as absurd as it sounds, and that’s exactly why it works. There’s a much darker version of this story that another filmmaker could’ve made, but thankfully Feig, Awkwafina, and Cena weren’t interested in that.
Jackpot! isn’t exactly high art, but so what? While the action does get repetitive after a while, the film doesn’t overstay its welcome either. This one is just a lot of fun, and those who invest the time and remember not to take it too seriously, will come away a lot richer.
Prime Video is streaming Jackpot! now.
