Review of “Jackpot!”: This cobbled-together action comedy is a flop

One thing has become clear in recent years: Hollywood is running out of ideas. Studios are no longer content with remaking successful classics or building on long-standing franchises like the MCU. Instead, they are now patching together old stories and concepts and creating something like Frankenstein’s monster on the screen. That’s the problem with Jackpot!a film that somehow The Cleansingsomehow The hunt and somehow IndependenceJake Johnson’s much better version of a story about an everyman on the run for money. Add elements of The most dangerous game And Squid Games and, well, here we are.

Jackpot!Directed by the talented, passionate filmmaker Paul Feig, who never received the recognition he deserved for Ghost Huntersis a boring mix of everything you’ve already seen. Set in 2030 Los Angeles, it’s about an aspiring actress named Katie (Awkwafina) who accidentally wins the California lottery. The catch? The only way she can win the lottery is to stay alive until sundown, when drones reveal her location to an angry, violent mob looking to claim the prize money (the only rule: no guns). These killers include almost everyone around her, from the blonde actresses at an audition to a karate class to her goofy Airbnb roommate to the construction workers down the street. Thankfully, an amateur lottery protection agent (John Cena) shows up out of nowhere to help her.

The premise is entertaining enough (although it takes so much from Independence that Johnson might have a legal claim). It also sets Awkwafina up for some chaotic fight sequences that form the basis for most of the film’s scenes. Simu Liu appears as another lottery protection agent with devious motives, providing a contrast to Cena, who slugs his way through the story with lovable jokes. Screenwriter Rob Yescombe tries to establish some kind of emotional dignity between Katie and her protector, including an obligatory backstory that’s completely irrelevant to the plot, but we just don’t care enough about these people for it to matter. You can only watch Katie fend off money-hungry Los Angeles residents for so long before it gets tiring. How many times will she escape people’s improvised weapons? How many car chases can we sit through? Why do the same Los Angeles residents appear in every scene, even though it’s a city of millions? Is this movie over yet?

There is an audience that will watch Jackpot! while streaming and think it’s okay. Awkwafina is a perfectly likable actress and she’s up for stunts and ridiculous premises. Cena has proven himself to be a decent actor, even if he’s often playing the same role. Feig knows how to set up an entertaining fight scene that veers between silly and brutal. But despite the cast and the director’s best efforts, this is a movie so desperate to be edgy that it somehow becomes completely boring. It’s a Frankenstein monster with no soul or energy, which is what happens when you slap some glue between existing ideas and assume no one will notice. This is one Jackpot! without a winner.