Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: Awkwafina, Jackpot, John Cena, paul feig, prime video, Simu Liu

Jackpot! Is Summer's Best Comedy, Shame Its Not In Theaters {Review}

Jackpot! is the summer's best comedy by default, and would have been a great opportunity for Amazon to make money in theaters.

Jackpot! is the type of action comedy that theaters have craved for a long time. Three likable stars, a great hook to rope people in, and a director who has made some of the biggest comedies of the last two decades like Bridesmaids and The Heat in Paul Feig. The only problem? The film isn't going to theaters. It is now streaming on Prime Video. This may be the best original to premiere on the service, and it is a shame that, as of now, there is no plan for this to play on screens, as they would have a hit on their hands.

Jackpot! Is A Great Premise

Awkwafina stars as Katie, a former child actress who finds a winning lottery ticket in her jacket when auditioning for a part. Which would usually be great, but if you were the lottery winner, you would win billions and become the target of the entire city. You see, whoever wins the lottery gets pursued by the rest of the city for 24 hours. If they kill the winner, they get the prize. The only rule is no guns. While running for her life, she meets Noel (John Cena), a freelancer who offers to protect her for a percentage of her winnings. Eventually, Noel seeks out the help of his biggest rival, Louis Lewis (Simu Liu).

What a delight, Jackpot! becomes thanks to Cena and Awkwafina. They have insane amounts of chemistry and rip through the script by Rob Yescombe like they were in a Deadpool movie. Seriously, they give Ryan Reynolds and the company a run for their money here. Cena has really come into his own as an actor and is making a nice little niche for himself in the space. You can never say that the man doesn't make you laugh; this might be his best performance to date. Awkwafina also does really good work here, selling the premise's zaniness and leaning into it big time. Look out whenever these two start firing off one-liners during the action sequences.

And boy, is there a relentless amount of action right from when the studio logos disappear. And violent action, too. Feig really goes for broke here, to hilarious and even gross levels. As enjoyable as the leads are, it gets a bit exhausting after a while. The manic energy never really subsides and comes just close enough to the edge that it almost heads over that cliff into being too much, but then a joke lands, or a cameo busts your gut and puts the car back on the road.

It really is a shame that Jackpot! is not getting the vote of confidence Amazon gave to other films like Air or Challengers, as this is the second time in 2024 that they are leaving a bunch of money on the table. Road House would have made a bunch of money earlier this spring, and now Jackpot!, with its winning cast and insanely great premise, could have cleaned up in a bit of a slower August as far as releases go. Hopefully, this finds an audience streaming cause it has "cult classic" written all over it.

Jackpot!

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Review by Jeremy Konrad

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7.5/10

Jackpot! is the summer's best comedy by default, and would have been a great opportunity for Amazon to make money in theaters. Awkwafina and John Cena are a winning team, let's hope they work together a bunch more.

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