Jackpot!
Awkwafina and John Cena make for a likable duo in diverting action-comedy.
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“Jackpot!” (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video) is director Paul Feig’s comedic spin on “The Purge” franchise. It’s not good per se, but it is a good deal of dumb fun.
It’s Los Angeles in the none-too-distant future of 2030. When someone wins the lottery others can legally kill them and claim their jackpot so long as they don’t use guns or bullets to do so.
Katie Kim (Awkwafina) is a former child actor and Michigan transplant who’s moved to Hollywood in order to reignite her career after her mother’s passing. She’s living with a shoddy Airbnb hostess named Shadi (the comedically game Ayden Mayeri) and striking out at auditions.
Somehow Katie comes into possession of a winning lottery ticket and the better part of Los Angeles (including Shadi and her boyfriend DJ Donald (Elise Watkins)) come after her to collect the windfall. Katie finds an ally in Noel Cassidy (John Cena). He’s a good-hearted, good-natured, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-obsessed bodyguard-for-hire. Noel’s willing to see Katie safely through this ordeal for 10 percent of the winnings, but her life is infinitely more important to him than the lucre. This attitude has made Noel second fiddle to Louis Lewis (Simu Liu), a mercenary who’s far more mercenary.
Katie and Noel must now punch, kick, throw, stab, run and drive their way through the crazies on their way to safety.
“Jackpot!” as directed by Feig and scripted by video game writer-turned-screenwriter Rob Yescombe (he previously penned the Anthony Mackie Netflix vehicle “Outside the Wire”) is on brand for both creatives. Feig is fairly adept with action having helmed “The Heat,” “Spy” and “Ghostbusters” (2016) and the action feels very video game-y harkening back to Yescombe’s past efforts.
The proceedings have an improvisational feel, which is emphasized during a closing credits outtake reel. Jokes come fast and furious – a lot of them land; a lot of them don’t. Awkwafina, Mayeri and Cena all riff in a manner recalling (but not equaling) Melissa McCarthy’s work with Feig. Awkwafina and Cena also have surprisingly decent chemistry and their characters’ friendship is the picture’s heart.
“Jackpot!” ain’t exactly a bonanza, but it’s a diverting enough way to spend an hour and 45 minutes. It does boast not one but two needle drops of Partners in Kryme’s “Turtle Power,” a fun supporting turn from Feig’s “Freaks and Geeks” colleague Becky Ann Baker and a shockingly winning cameo from Machine Gun Kelly playing himself (Katie hilariously refers to him as, “Mr. Gun Kelly.”). These elements alone make the movie worth watching.