In the near future, a ‘Grand Lottery’ has been established in California – the catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot. A film by Paul Feig, starring Awkwafina, John Cena, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Sam Asghari, and Simu Liu.

During the Great Depression in 2026, California launched “The California Grand Lottery©.” With the new government and its citizens desperate for money, a set of rules was announced: anyone who kills the winner before sundown can legally claim all the lottery winnings. However, the use of guns and bullets is strictly prohibited.

In 2030, a rugged man (Seann William Scott) has just won the $22 million Grand Lottery. He is being pursued by hundreds of people running down the street, trying to kill him and claim the lottery money. However, the man refuses to go down without a fight. He appears to be skilled in martial arts and manages to fight back and escape, even when surrounded by murderous people wielding weapons.

Grandma Tala (Dolly De Leon) is shocked to find a man breaking into her home. The man pulls a knife from his pocket and asks Tala if she knows who he is. Frustrated and possibly frightened, Tala shakes her head and hands her phone to him after he requests it. The man then stomps on her phone, breaking it. As he leaves the room, Tala approaches the window and sees a drone hovering outside.

Just arriving in Los Angeles, former child star Katie Kim (Awkwafina) decides to return to acting after her father left her to care for her mother until she passed away. Katie rents a room from Shadi (Ayden Mayeri) and her boyfriend DJ (Ayden Mayeri), only to be shocked to discover that the room is much smaller and doesn’t look anything like the photos they posted on Airbnb. When Katie expresses her concerns, Shadi dismisses them and proudly admits that they used fake photos, otherwise no one would book their place.

During the audition, which costs Katie $400 to enter, she rents clothing from Shadi because her own clothes were ruined by a leak from upstairs. While going through her pockets, she accidentally presses a lottery ticket and enters the Grand Lottery, completely unaware that she has just won a record-breaking jackpot of $3.6 billion. When she exits the audition room, other aspiring actresses in the waiting area recognize Katie from the photo on their lottery ticket and begin to attack her in an attempt to claim the jackpot money by killing the winner.

Things escalate quickly as everyone in the building tries to kill Katie, who is completely oblivious to what’s happening and has no idea why everyone is attacking her. Miraculously, she manages to survive for a moment, thanks to the classes she took at Stage Fighting School. Just as Katie is about to be choked to death, she is rescued by Noel (John Cena), a freelance bodyguard who offers his protection services in exchange for 10% of her winnings.

Noel explains to Katie that she is being hunted because she has just won the Grand Lottery, and the rules state that her fans cannot kill anyone else for her money and cannot use lethal ballistics. So anyone with a losing ticket who kills Katie before sundown can legally claim her winnings. The drone, called Shutterbug, will keep following her and posting her location every 14 minutes, so they must keep running until it’s over. The only way for her to quit the game is to leave the city, but with so much at stake, nobody would let her leave and forfeit $3.6 billion so easily.

Directed by American filmmaker Paul Feig and based on an original screenplay by Rob Yescombe, JACKPOT! feels like a mix of Black Mirror and a toned-down version of The Purge. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t quite hit the mark it aims for. JACKPOT! suffers from a weak script filled with plot holes, clichés, and jokes that struggle to land.

The film is rated R for pervasive language, violence, and sexual references, yet it surprisingly feels more like a PG-13. The violence isn’t visceral enough; I think only two people die on screen.

The characters are underdeveloped and often unrealistic, particularly the protagonist, Katie Kim. For instance, how is it possible that Katie knows nothing about the California Grand Lottery? Although the film provides a backstory about her caring for her ill mother in the countryside and not watching the news, the lottery is a significant event in California and likely the entire U.S., as it’s the only state that allows people to legally murder the winner. It feels repetitive, as we have to sit through Noel explaining things we already know to Katie. In another scene, after Katie learns that she is being hunted by nearly everyone in California, she refuses to trust Noel, who has just saved her life multiple times, and decides to venture out on her own. Why?

The film also misses the opportunity to showcase creative kills or unexpected plot twists that could have surprised us. I really enjoyed the opening scene where the lottery winner (played by Seann William Scott) is pursued by the citizens of California. The scene is exciting and fun, as we have no idea what he will encounter or whom he can trust, and his sudden death comes from an unlikely character. That was surprising and entertaining. Sadly, from that moment on, the story takes a downward turn.

JACKPOT! was released on Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video on 15 August 2024.