3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Jackpot!

2024, Paul Feig (Ghostbusters) -- Amazon

Maybe I need a tag "it was cute" for comedies that were OK, but just OK ? Honestly the best thing about this was the reel of cut ad-libs at the end of the movie. This is a Paul Feig thing? The less tight script, opting for choosing the best of a bunch of improv scenes? Yeah yeah #lazyweb.

And yeah yeah, this is not my usual fare for comedy, but it was stated out loud that we both rather enjoy Awkwafina (especially, typing out her name) and John Cena and needed something light for the evening (do we ever need something dark anymore? there was a time we embraced the heavy & compelling) so we chose this.

So, Katie (Awkwafina, Shang-Chi) was a child actor who also had some middling success in doing commercials until she had to step away to take care of her dying mother. She returns to LA in 2030 (yes, this is a "20 minutes into the future" movie) aware there is a recession on (isn't there always a recession on these years?) but not aware of what the California government has done to distract the populace. She finds out during a disastrous audition when she accidentally places her thumbprint on the winning lottery ticket. Yay! She won almost $4 billion dollar jackpot. Boo! She doesn't know people are entitled to try to kill her in order to claim the win. Instantly she is on the slapstick run. Everyone at the audition and all the adjacent businesses pull weapons out of their asses and attack her.

But in drops (literally) Noel (John Cena, Freelance), a security agent tasked with protecting her. Well, sorry, not tasked, but he offers to protect her, for a cut of the winnings. In this new California, its a legit business to protect lottery winners. Noel's rather an amateur, competing with the likes of the Lewis Protection Agency, a highly funded company. Either way, he is there, Katie is being chased and followed and livestreamed, and he ends up protecting her. She just wants to opt out but even that is not an option.

Chase chase chase, they end up in the panic room of a celebrity (Machine Gun Kelly; I am only peripherally aware of who he is) and Noel is forced to call in LPA for assistance. Briefly Katie feels safe in the hands of the charismatic Louis Lewis (Simu Liu, Shang-Chi), and his all-white (design choice, not skin colour) organization. Until he turns out to be the real Bad Guy. Apparently his company has been quietly killing the winners and claiming their funds. All I can say is that the lottery company is doing a shit job of investigating the wins. Anywayz, Noel continues to protect her and Lewis gets all blowed up.

Epilogue. Katie is a great and nice and wonderful person and has shared her winnings with Noel, and setup a bunch of benevolent organizations. Yawn.

This is the lightest of the light comedies. As Kent said, the state of the world satire is just the elevator pitch for the movie, but not the movie in play. And its cheap looking and cheaply played, all the comedy, the violent action scenes, the supporting cast, the laughs. Sure, Cena and Awkwafina are carrying the movie, and that was why we came here, but... yawn.

Of note, I am hoping that John Cena continues to play ex-military people who lose their entire team due to betrayal. Do a third "My Spy" movie, replacing Bautista's character with Cena, but this backstory! Do a new "The Union" movie but bring in Cena as a retired military guy with that backstory! Have Shawn Levy do another lazy Ryan Reynolds movie and have Cena as a Bad Guy, with that backstory!