JACKPOT is an action-comedy with the helm of Paul Feig and a rather bizarre premise that is set in a post-apocalyptic Las Angeles. Despite the movie featuring Awkwafina and John Cena, it narrates a story centered on the California Grand Lottery, a game where to get a multi-billion-dollar prize, one must survive the night. It tells the life of Katie (Awkwafina), a former child star who wants to regain her fame. Her life takes a chaotic turn when she accidentally wins the lottery and becomes the target of everyone in the city, as per the lottery’s cruel rules.
Katie is quickly exposed to a life-or-death scenario, and becomes a $3-token. 6 billion makes her a target who everyone else will want to associate with in the hope of getting rich quickly. And so we are introduced to Noel (John Cena), an independent security expert who decides to assist her in get through the day. The movie is filled with action scenes and comic fights and Noel who fights of several attackers with the aim of protecting Katie. The stakes are raised as Katie needs to drive through the streets of Los Angeles where everyone with a crossbow is out to assassinate her for the winnings.
IS THE CALIFORNIA GRAND LOTTERY REAL?
No, the California Grand Lottery in JACKPOT (2024) is not real. It is a fictional concept created for the movie’s plot. Even if the name of the California Grand Lottery sound exciting, this has to do nothing to do with reality. It is important to note that JACKPOT’s lottery is fictional and was developed for the framework of the movie, which essentially satirizes society’s fixation with winning the money and achieving fame. Thus, using this exaggerated version of a lottery, the film composes an action-filled and a comic storyline for the viewers.
Actually, there is a state lottery in California but its functioning differs severely. The real California State Lottery is the official gambling organization of the state run by the government and providing people with quite a number of games to play such as Mega Millions, SuperLotto Plus, and Scratchers among others, players win prizes through random draws. As far as the film was concerned, the real life lottery does not entail the fixed duels or people being killed in cold blood.
The concept of the California Grand Lottery in JACKPOT was created by Rob Yescombe, the writer of the film, with possible influence from video games mechanics. He superimposed a lottery condition whereby one has to battle for the trophy and increase the risk factor in a story. Yescombe intended to depict the kind of hopelessness which the possession of large sums of money creates and how it makes people act in a barbarous manner. To add layers of public and private conflict, he changed the organisation of the lottery to be privately funded by the billionaire, Johnny Grand, who represents the villainous hedonist from the upper echelon of the society.
A cokehead billionaire Johnny Grand performed by Murray Hill arrives only in the evening to greet the last man standing with a smile and a check and never seems to notice the carnage around him. He is a definite critique of the excess and ignorance of the aristocracy and how entirely self-absorbed some of them are, willing to step on anyone to get what they want.
However, the California Grand Lottery in JACKPOT is an invention of the author designed to entertain and to make fun of the lottery, not to mimic it. This rather imaginative concept the film gives a humorous and a thrilling spin and with Awkwafina and John Cena leading the charge.
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IS TETTAS SECURITY A REAL SECURITY COMPANY IN JACKPOT (2024)?
