While I was a fan of wrestling in my younger days, the John Cena era mostly passed me by. I didn’t really get a taste of Cena until he transitioned into movies, where he starred in the WWE production of The Marine (2006). Personally, I felt that it was a perfectly serviceable actioner as was his follow up feature, the Renny Harlin helmed 12 Rounds (2009). Clearly a physical specimen, Cena was a more than capable action hero. Still, there wasn’t much in these films that differentiated him from any other wrestler turned actor.
It would take a director like Paul Feig to recognize the comedic potential in Cena, with him giving Cena a co-starring role in his comedy feature Trainwreck (2015). Sure, it may not have been a leading role but it allowed him to inject much more personality into his character than anything he had featured in up to this point. While he has featured in serious roles since then, Cena’s skill with comedy has consistently been used in the likes of Daddy’s Home 2 (2017), Vacation Friends (2021) and the recent Ricky Stanicky (2024) where Cena hilariously sent up his image.
With these comic talents, it makes sense that Paul Feig would employ him once again, with Cena now playing a main role in Feig’s latest Jackpot! Creating a winning double act with Awkwafina, Jackpot! allows Cena to mix up the comedy with his more action orientated sensibilities, with the film featuring several well choreographed fight scenes.
Taking place in 2030, California is facing financial ruin. Because of this, the government has introduced the Grand Lottery, a deadly lottery where a randomly selected winner must survive until sundown; with anyone who has a losing ticket being allowed to kill the winner so they can claim the multi-million dollar prize. The one caveat is that no one is allowed to use guns.
With hopes of re-entering showbiz, Katie Kim (Awkwafina) finds herself back in Los Angeles. Completely unaware of the lottery, Katie hires a rundown bedroom from the greedy Shadi (Ayden Mayeri) and her boyfriend DJ (Donald Elise Watkins). During a particularly horrible night, Katie finds her clothes are ruined, with her being forced to wear Shadi’s to attend an audition. During the already horrible audition Katie ends up mistakenly entering and winning the lottery.
Katie’s “win” put her on the rader of all the “losers”, all of whom begin to attack her on site in order to claim her winnings. Confused about what’s happening, Katie awkwardly fights off her pursuers to no avail until the appearance of Noel Cassidy (John Cena), a freelance Lottery Protection Agent, who for a cut of Katie’s winning is willing to be her bodyguard for the duration of the Lottery. Forming an uneasy alliance, the two of them have to fight through a horde of money hungry “fans” in order to survive, with Katie never sure if Noel can be trusted.
Jackpot! will never go down as Paul Feig’s finest work, but it’s certainly far from his worst. It is certainly an improvement on Last Christmas (2019) and The School for Good and Evil (2022). I won’t even speak about his take on Ghostbusters (2016). Jackpot! may not look as polished as those mentioned, with it being somewhat obvious that it was made for streaming. The film may have had a decent budget, but it has that somewhat cheap looking visual sheen that many streaming films do.
Even so, Jackpot! overcomes this obstacle by having a real sense of fun, with Feig injecting his film with energy and an almost breakneck pace. After the initial introduction of the characters and setting, Jackpot! hardly lets up from one hilariously violent encounter to the next. There is a slight lull before the last third of the film, but this allows the characters some down time with an opportunity to open up to each other.
The laughs come thick and fast. Not all hit their mark but there is a good laugh ratio going on here. Most of the funny lines are delivered by Awkwafina, many of which are at the expense of Cena. As expected, Cena rolls with the punches, more than happy to send up his action-hero image. He may not get the same amount of one liners as Awkwafina, Cena still gets more than his fair share of funny scenes.
Cena’s clear obsession with a certain 80’s cartoon series had me roaring with laughter, with this obsession playing right into the finale. While others online may have already mentioned what this obsession is, I would rather not mention what this is, as it would dilute the joke.
Awkwafina may have been cast more for her talent with comedy, but she takes part in a fair amount of the action. Clearly there is the employment of some stunt doubling, but her fight scenes are well choreographed. Her clumsiness is used to the film’s advantage, with her fights having an almost Jackie Chan style quality to them. This makes for an enjoyable counterpoint to the more capable Cena who gets ample opportunity to show off his fighting skills.
Simu Liu also gets to show off his acting chops, playing Louis Lewis, the head of the Lewis Protection Agency. Right from his introduction it is clear that Louis isn’t the good guy he makes himself out to be. Liu brings the right enough smarm and charisma to his performance, with him becoming something of a thorn in the side of Katie and Noel. It was nice seeing Liu once again sharing the screen with Awkwafina after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), even if they ultimately end up as adversaries. It is certainly a more suitable vehicle for Liu than the downright awful Atlas (2024), which came out shortly before this.
Smaller supporting turns additionally give the film a boost in entertainment. Ayden Mayeri is gleefully insane as the money obsessed Shadi then there’s Machine Gun Kelly playing an exaggerated version of himself (or perhaps a toned down version of himself if some stories are to be believed). Then there’s Sean William Scott, who shows up as another unlucky Lottery winner. His screen time is all too brief and it just made me wonder why we don’t see him feature more in films.
Admittedly, the majority of the action is played more for laughs. Considering how the participants are all wielding sharp weapons, I was surprised by how little there was in the way of bloody violence. People are injured, with the odd stabbing etc. but there is nothing I would consider extreme. With the film leaning into its R rating in terms of language, it would have been nice to see the action take a similar route. Even so, the action is carried off well, with the fights having a fair amount of imaginative fight choreography.
I have already noted online some complaints with Jackpot!, mentioning its puerile humor and comments about it’s pacing. Personally, I had no issues with the pacing. As mentioned, there is the odd lull but nothing that hampers the film, with the majority of the film being fast paced. In terms of the humor, I wonder what some critics were expecting, especially considering what the setup of the film is.
Jackpot! may not be a runaway success, but there is a lot here to enjoy. I was definitely never bored during its fast moving 106 minute runtime, with its good mix of laughs and action keeping me entertained.
Plot: 3/5
Acting: 4/5
Action: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5
