‘Jackpot!’ Review: A Fun But Superficial Mess

Prime Video’s latest knows how to create a great concept, Jackpot!’s execution, however, leaves a lot to be desired. 

With Paul Feig’s latest film, comes yet another entry into a long line of mediocrity. Jackpot! follows a world in which a televised lottery event takes place. At random, a Californian is chosen to be the recipient of a multi-billion dollar lottery prize. The only catch is, they must survive until sundown. The event occurs monthly, and things kick off when aspiring actor Katie (Awkwafina) is chosen. Soon, she must side with lottery security specialist Noel (John Cena) as they struggle against a money-hungry hoard of people. 

It’s a concept that likely takes a lot of inspiration from great films such as The Purge and The Running Man, but never really pays homage to such concepts. Overall, standard, if not weak, direction from Feig does not help things in the movie either, lacking visual flair or any strong sense of direction. It’s something you can see in his filmography as a whole, with misses such as the Ghostbusters remake, Spy, and Last Christmas. 

The cast of this film is both a detriment and a saving grace with a lot of charismatic performances, for better or for worse. The film consists of a very tight-knit cast with little to no supporting characters. Awkwafina (Renfield) plays the lead, Katie Kim, who is just written to her typecast, and in doing so, completely insufferable. Awkwafina brings no nuance to the performance, and her charisma is nothing but grating. At this point, I’ve seen sixteen of her projects she has acted in, and needless to say, it’s a shtick that becomes more and more tiring with each performance. 

John Cena (Peacemaker, WWE), however, is a delight as expected. He doesn’t have much to work with, but what he does with the performance really makes you root for the character, and by connection, Awkwafina’s Katie. If not for this casting, an ongoing joke between his character and Awkwafina would have fallen flat, but thankfully due to Cena’s charisma, which is far less grating than that of the lead, these many jokes hit. 

Also rounding out the core cast of the film is the man, the myth, the legend himself, Simu Liu (Barbie) who previously co-starred with Awkwafina in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The two’s relationship in that film was awkward and forced, something they cheekily decided to continue here! It didn’t work there and it doesn’t work here. Liu serves as the antagonist in the film, and a really weak one at that. The character has no screen presence or any characterization at all, making him nothing but an empty and soulless villain.

Not only is the film partially grating, but it is largely superficial, due to a weak and heavily expository script. Rob Yescombe, who largely serves as a video game writer, wrote this film in a way that ensures you and I as audience members, are not surprised by anything. Even cameos from A-list musicians can’t surprise you in a film as mundane as this one. That being said, he does manage to create a fun time, that’s fairly adrenaline-inducing purely due to the pacing and situations. 

Although fun enough, Paul Feig’s Jackpot! is more than rough around the edges, thanks to a grating lead, a superficial script and some mundane direction. 

Jackpot! is directed by Paul Feig, and stars Awkwafina, John Cena, Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, and Seann William Scott. The film was written by Rob Yescombe and is now streaming on Prime Video worldwide. 

Thanks for reading this review.