During a bus ride through LA, Katie’s (Awkwafina) sense of justice is triggered. When a father complains on the phone that his daughter, who is sitting next to him, failed at a casting, Katie falsely pretends to be a police officer to put him in his place. The comedy “A Jackpot to Die For” combines the tragic side of failure with the comic side right from the protagonist’s first appearance. Katie was once “the little girl from the spaghetti commercial” who was mercilessly driven to success Still scarred by this trauma, she is now trying to get a foothold in Hollywood as an actress again. Her dilemma is that although she slips into different roles due to her job, she is also easily deceived by others. For example, she does not notice that the nice older lady who had just confirmed her in her action to help has actually stolen her watch.
With comedies such as “Bridesmaids”, “The Heat” or “Spy – Susan Cooper Undercover”, US director Paul Feig has specialized in likeably clumsy protagonists who stumble from one humiliation to the next. In his new fish-out-of-water story, the heroine is met with a mixture of compassion and joy at not being in her own skin. The comedian Awkwafina – who already has the predicate awkward in her stage name – plays an outsider with a slightly stooped posture, raspy voice and elastic facial expressions, who is as much a shy girl as a blustery ruffian. Her gullibility is in sharp contrast to the cold-blooded cunning of the city dwellers.
Embarrassing situations in which the protagonist stands out in an unpleasant way or is disappointed in her expectations are Feig’s speciality. Katie’s intermezzo, for example, is as simple as it is brilliant, with her seemingly sympathetically disorganized but actually deeply malicious AirBnB host (Ayden Mayeri). Or a casting for which the actress has to quickly borrow the most ridiculous clothes possible in order to unsuccessfully try to assert herself against a bunch of tall, blonde model clones in front of an arrogant jury.
“A Jackpot to Die For” reinforces Katie’s naivety in hardened LA with a grotesque twist. The prologue reveals that we are in a near future in which a morbid lottery is intended to distract from social injustices. Whoever wins a million-dollar jackpot murdered until the next dawn is legally allowed to keep the money for himself. When Katie, who is unfamiliar with this Californian custom, wins by chance, she has to fight off a whole horde of attackers. The humor of this ritual, reminiscent of the horror film “The Purge,” comes from the dissonance between superficial friendliness and barbaric murderous intent.
The actress is soon supported as a sidekick by the mysterious Noel (John Cena), who works for a company that promises personal protection to jackpot winners in exchange for a small share of the profits. The muscle-bound man in his communion suit seems extremely suspicious simply because of his genuine niceness. Even more than Katie, the battle-hardened and consistently out of place Noel is a ridiculed loner whose strangeness outshines everything else. At one point he is aptly compared to a bulldog that was turned into a human against its will. Attempts to fuse Katie and Noel into a team with sentimental interjections are only half successful. Noel remains a clunky alien body throughout the entire film.
The dystopian setting is used by “A Jackpot to Die For” neither for sophisticated world building nor for a warning criticism of a brutalized society. Rather, the silly premise blends into an over-the-top mess. Comedy and action film are not only combined, but fuel each other. The external pressure of a lead-filled chase serves, for example, to steer the already emotional verbal battles into hysterics. When Katie grabs hold of a fighter during a mass brawl in a judo studio and, accompanied by a high-pitched scream, involuntarily pulls him into an extreme split, it is revealed how humor and action are intertwined in the best moments. The sometimes somewhat overused allusions On the other hand, one might be able to forgive a film that is set in Hollywood, which is full of pop culture myths, for its focus on the world of celebrities and the world of film. Some of it is even quite successful, such as when Katie has to fight her way through completely deformed likenesses of celebrities like Cher and J.Lo in a trashy wax museum.
As the plot progresses, it becomes clear that the script, although it has some good one-liners and absurd situations, is too simplistic overall. As a dystopian, self-reflective action comedy with heart, “A Jackpot to Die For” has set itself a lot more goals than it manages to do in its 106-minute running time. In its abundance, some opportunities seem painfully wasted; especially the boring villain (Simu Liu), who is a mendacious smiling face of neoliberalism fits well into the film thematically, but is a dud in terms of comedy. The way the film was released exclusively on Amazon’s streaming site goes unnoticed, making you wonder whether the project simply lacked the necessary time and attention. The freewheeling Awkwafina and the punch-punching direction of Paul Feig make you forget some of the imperfections.
Michael Kienzl
A jackpot to die for – USA 2024 – Original title: Jackpot! – Director: Paul Feig – Cast: Awkwafina, John Cena, Simu Liu, Seann William Scott, Marian Green, David Conk, Josh Diogo – Running time: 106 minutes.
“A Jackpot to Die For” is on Amazon Prime available.
