Last Updated on August 23, 2024 by
Jackpot is a 2024 action-comedy Movie Directed by Paul Feig. The film stars Awkwafina, John Cena, and Simu Liu and was released on August 15, 2024.
In this movie, Awkwafina portrays the character of Katie Kim, a woman who reluctantly goes back to California; she was a child actor with a dream of making it big in Hollywood again- that is after her mother who she was taking care of in Michigan dies. Thus the first of the movie’s many meaningless coincidences: Katie doesn’t even know that the state has a new kind of lottery that turns the murderous rampage switch on almost everyone in LA and so it comes as a complete shock to her when she puts on a piece of clothing which belongs to another girl and finds a ticket in it which has made her the grand winner only to be next set upon by anyone who cross her path. (All are personal because guns are prohibited by the lottery. ) Among the few individuals who do not want to kill her is Noel, played by John Cena, who offers her a ‘protection’ service for $ 10% of her winnings while trying to keep her alive till sundown. A very confused Katie is initially hesitant to go along with it, but she eventually becomes heavily dependent on Noel although this is further complicated when a larger, albeit more dangerous and fully professionalized protection service led by an old military buddy of Noel, portrayed by Simu Liu, is drawn into the frantic dash for cash.
Given the summary provided above, one would expect from the summation that Jackpot! become a full-blown horror slasher movie, but you’d be mistaken. The movie states its intentions in the first few moments when the on-screen text that establishes the film’s universe and rules ends with: ‘Some people call it dystopian’, But those people are no fun. ” Co-written with Rob Yescombe, Feig continues the watered-down tradition of male-centric Hollywood action/comedies with a script filled with groan-inducing jokes for which Feig deserves credit for including a character that is a DJ. On one occasion, Machine Gun Kelly, who seems to be portraying the persona he has today even though the movie is set at least six years in the future, thinks that Cena has a romantic interest in him and says, “You would transform my ass hole into the Eye of Sauron. Let’s not go on that fellowship of my ring. ”A last scene shown at the end of the movie is a blooper showing that other equally foolish comebacks could have been chosen for that dialogue and it is impossible to escape Jackpot! There is no way that you would ever want to skip out on the juvenile sex jokes that are presented even at the end of the film. Besides, there are fart jokes, jokes about breaking wind, a suggestion that two minor characters slept with a Tin Man replica from The Wizard of Oz, and a rather pointless, yet continually repeated gag which is Cena’s character’s inordinate obsession with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If this is what passes for “fun,” bring back the good old-fashioned oppressive dystopia, thank you very much.
Jackpot! appears to be intonationally off somehow or just does not cohesively fit within the context of the plot. The most glaring loophole about why a lottery where the winner is initially a victim of attempted murder is more profitable than the usual lottery is never discussed. I do not quite share the view of culture being stagnant, it is rather disturbing to see the movie that presents itself as being set in an even worse version of the future constantly making cheap pop culture references. Besides the TMNT thing and Machine Gun Kelly in it, there are references to Star Wars, The Karate Kid, the Kardashians, etc It’s bewildering. undefined To begin with, in one scene, Katie has to interact with an exceptionally silly Airbnb guest named Shadi (Ayden Mayeri), who may turn out to be the most obnoxious and uninvited character of a movie this year. Cena and Liu, the latter of whom must be chomping at the bit for his next spot on Marvel, argue about LaCroix sparkling water at one point and scream at each other.
Even the “action” part of this action-comedy is not much better. Once more, it is a creative decision to have events in the film occur comically instead of being aggressive. Since the Lottery Commission has drones that constantly track the locations of Katie and report it every few minutes, it is very easy for young punks, wannabe actors, no-so-kindly grandmas, and anyone who has a knife or hatchet within their reach to attack both Katie and Noel. However, the two characters, who are presented as the representatives of “good people” in a world where sanity is long gone, try not to kill their enemies, and, while subduing them, tend to keep the process as pleasant as possible for the assailants that they are dealing with – Katie and Noel, respectively.
There is even a scene when Cena puts a helmet on an attacker’s head before throwing him out of the moving car as he claims the maniac doesn’t deserve a head injury. Funny enough, Katie is quite adept at handling large groups of greedy maniacs as the movie attributes her prowess to the fact that she once took some stunt fighting classes. The fights themselves are slap-sticky, the kind of throwdowns you’d see in a Jackie Chan film but without someone as skilled as Chan gracefully centering the action and holding the frame. These two thoughts are so simplistic, elementary, and ambiguous that no unifying theme can ever develop from it in the film. can be seen as an allegory of fame and instant celebrity — all people who want to kill Katie for the sake of the prize are called her ‘fans’, while Katie’s face suddenly appears on every screen in the city — but this feels as uninteresting and undeveloped as every other theme of the movie, probably because the filmmakers were too busy trying to shoehorn in more arse jokes. All of this is to say Awkwafina, and Cena have better performances in other projects. I was able to elicit two mild chuckles from this film by counting the number of actual jokes present.
The first is when Jodie says to Cena, ‘You look like a bulldog that a witch put a curse on and turned into a man. ’ Quite correct, that one! Lastly, just before the film ends, Awkwafina utters a line about acting being pointless as they have ”fucking wrestlers and YouTubers are movie stars now. ” Though this is a cheap shot at both her and Cena’s more humble backgrounds, it can hardly be considered more witty than any random quip from any given Deadpool scene. But, given the 90-plus minutes of no laughter beforehand, this mildly hilarious, meta-joke seemed as refreshing as water in the middle of a desert. So the title of the movie could be called Jackpot!, and in this one, nobody is going to be the winner. ”
Jackpot 2024 Parents Guide Age Rating
Jackpot is rated R by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for pervasive language, violence, and sexual references.
Violence & Gore: There are many scenes of violence observed throughout the movie, although they are typically relatively mild and played for comedy. People kill each other with knives, hatchets, and other objects; however, most of the time, the violence is exaggerated and comical. In several places, some characters are in a way harassed or assaulted by other characters who want to have the lottery money and this leads to fisticuffs or chases. For instance, there are numerous situations when both Katie and Noel are chased by different individuals with the intent to kill them, but this subject is comical. One of the scenes is when John Cena’s character decides to push a bad guy out of the car but makes sure he wears a helmet, which reveals the movie’s humorous attitude toward violence.
Language: There is a high degree of violence and much of this is committed by the central character of Walter; another issue is the frequent use of strong language throughout the film in the form of overt swearing which includes the f-word, s-word, and others. Characters full of profanity especially when angered or scared. However, there are also a few sexual products, and jokes are made about them. For instance, Machine Gun Kelly’s character cracks a joke hinting at Mary uncomfortably and says ‘Eye of Sauron,’ ‘fellowship of my ring,’ which is lewd and unfit for children’s consumption.
Sexual Content: There are many sexual jokes and innuendos in the film, which are lowbrow and lewd to a large extent. These include exaggerated jokes on body parts and functions, sexual activities, and imaginary or hidden meanings of various statements. The only form of humor that is incorporated is a rather tired inside joke concerning Cena’s character’s fixation with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and making some rather lewd comments. There are only two examples of potential sexual situations that can be considered: One is a minor subplot where it is suggested that two characters slept with a Tin Man replica from “The Wizard of Oz. ” This is however done in jest and it is not very explicit. While there are no sexually explicit scenes there are a lot of jokes and references to sexual acting which is why the film has an ‘R’ rating.
Substance Use: Several scenes are depicted with characters drinking alcohol and one scene depicts Noel and another character debating LaCroix sparkling water which can be symbolic of alcohol in some way. As for substance abuse, there is no depiction of drug use, while alcohol is presented in a rather frivolous and fun manner that may be of concern to some viewers.
