Jackpot: Awkwafina and John Cena Fun Ku You.

In the near future, a ‘Grand Lottery’ has been newly established in California — the catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot. When Katie Kim (Awkwafina) moves to Los Angeles, she mistakenly finds herself with the winning ticket. Desperate to survive the hordes of jackpot hunters, she reluctantly joins forces with amateur lottery protection agent Noel Cassidy (John Cena) who will do everything in his power to get her to sundown in exchange for a piece of her prize. However, Noel must face off with his slick rival Louis Lewis (Simu Liu), who also seeks to collect Katie’s commission at all costs.

REVIEW:

John Cena and Awkwafina have good chemistry and comic timing in the buddy comedy Jackpot. Cena is the protector to Awkwafina who has won an California lottery with a weird catch: until sundown on Lottery Day, anyone who successfully kills the lottery winner (all weapons allowed except guns) gets the winnings.

This is the comic version of The Purge film franchise. Relationships here are reduced to money- who has it, who can get it. Parents berate their children for not securing that prized high paying child acting job and the nice old lady schmoozes you to steal your expensive watch.

The director Paul Fieg managed to keep everything up tempo and zany. Most of the jokes, uttered with a joyful disdain, feel adlib on Awkwafina’s part. At its heart, Jackpot is a show business satire disguised with action and elaborate fight scenes. Awkwafina character is a budding actor with the usual stars in eyes. She faces fierce competition, exploitative casting agents, develops a rabid fan base that follows her around eager to kill her for the billions they can make with her murder. It’s not very subtle and kind of weird at times, but it works. The film shows how hard it’s to maintain celebrity and one’s soul. People will come after you, wanting to suck up your success.