Jackpot! (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Can Katie Protect Her Jackpot Prize Money? 

Paul Feig has had a fascinating career. After creating the seminal “Freaks and Geeks,” he worked on several sitcoms, including “The Office,” “Parks and Rec,” and “Arrested Development.” Then, he gained prominence for his work on the Oscar-nominated film, “Bridesmaids.” He is one of the most successful directors from the ‘Judd-Apatow Renaissance’ period of Hollywood comedies. Now, he returns with “Jackpot!” a buddy comedy flick starring Awkwafina and John Cena as the dynamic duo. Besides them, the film stars Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Murray Hill, Becky Ann Baker, and Dolly de Leon in pivotal roles.

Spoilers Ahead

Jackpot! (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

“Jackpot!,” starring Awkwafina and John Cena as the leads, follows a struggling actress who joins hands with an amateur agent to protect the money from her lottery win from every California resident who hopes to murder her.

What happens in the ‘Jackpot!’ movie?

Set in 2030, “Jackpot!” follows Katie (Awkwafina), a struggling actress who returns to California in hopes of reviving her career. She had been in her hometown helping her ailing mother at the dawn of her life. Katie was a famous child actor who earned a lot through commercials. However, her father controlled her finances. One day, she was asked to be in charge of her financial affairs. Soon after, her father abandoned her and left with all the money she earned for their family. He also abandoned his wife for Katie to take care of. At present, Katie hopes to revive her career.

Katie’s Life in California

Things have changed since Katie last worked in the entertainment industry. She enters California and takes a bus to her new place. On the bus, she notices a married man taking out his anger on his young daughter for not landing an acting gig. Katie realizes how opportunistic the father is. So, she intervenes and pretends to be a cop. She makes him realize his mistake and makes him apologize to his daughter. Then, the lady sitting next to Katie (Becky Ann Baker) has a chat about Katie’s watch. Eventually, she walks out at her stop. Katie realizes that the woman has stolen her watch. The bus driver refuses to help her as if that’s not enough.

Somehow, Katie finds her way to her new apartment. She realizes that her flatmate, Shadi (Ayden Mayeri), lied about the room in her online ad. Now, Katie has to make peace with a substandard room. Her other flatmate, DJ Donald (Donald Elise Watkins), is of no help either. Alas, Katie has to sleep there since she has an audition the following day. In the morning, she realizes that there is a sewage leakage issue in her room that has ruined all her clothes. So, she puts on some other clothes and heads to her audition.

There, she realizes she has to pay to be seen. The auditioner recognizes her from an old commercial she worked in. Even then, he subjects her to sexist audition practices. So, she abandons the opportunity. Outside, the other auditionees show her no sympathy. Moments later, they take an interest in her but not in her skills or her craft.

Katie Wins a Lottery

The auditionees realize that Katie has won the lottery. At the time, the law allows anyone with a losing ticket to murder her before sunset to claim her winnings. So, they all suddenly try to kill her. She escapes their torture and finds herself getting killed by a group of trained fighters and yoga trainees. Soon after, Noel (John Cena) appears in the room out of nowhere and saves her. He reveals he works as a lottery protection agent and hopes to protect her prize money in exchange for a share of her win. Before the sun goes down, she has to go to a place called Grapevine and not get killed. So, she sees no other option but to trust him.

Together, the duo battles several people trying to murder Katie. Somewhere along the way, she runs away from him. In a wax museum, her flatmates try to murder her. But she defeats them and reunites with Noel. He takes her to MGK’s house. A panic room is offered so they can stay safe by the end of the day. But an angry mob reaches MGK’s house to kill Katie. They get hold of the security code to enter the panic room. Noel realizes that. So, he calls Louis Lewis (Simu Liu) for help. Louis rescues the duo and invites them to his lottery protection organization. There, he offers Katie treatment to alter her look so people won’t be able to recognize her.

Jackpot! (2024) Movie Ending Explained:

Can Katie protect her jackpot prize money?

When Louis is away, Noel tells Katie about his traumatic past. He is a veteran who also worked for a private firm. But he decided to part ways after learning their ill intent. After he left, his associates got killed. So, he has a survivor’s guilt for not being there for them. As a result, he helps the victims’ families through his earnings. Upon hearing that, Katie fears Louis is taking advantage of Noel’s altruistic nature. So, she asks Noel whether he trusts Louis. Upon thinking, Noel suspects Louis is running a scam and intends not to help Katie but to kill her to get all the money.

After realizing that, Noel helps Katie escape Louis’s organization premises. While she drives toward Grapevine, Louis threatens to kill Noel if she doesn’t return to him. So, she drives back to protect Noel. Eventually, she meets Louis and threatens to kill herself. She broadcasts their interaction online to villainise Louis. Subsequently, Louis tries to pacify her.

Around this time, people realize Katie’s current location and reach there. This results in utter chaos when Katie tries to protect herself. Nevertheless, she manages to kill Louis and win the lottery. She offers half her prize money to Noel. Months later, we see Katie and Noel opening multiple new businesses together to help those in need.

Jackpot! (2024) Movie Review:

The best possible description of “Jackpot!” is it is stale. Its humor isn’t necessarily offensive. However, the writing pulls the comedic tricks that might have worked in the early 2010s. In 2024, do you really expect people to laugh at a DJ named DJ just because he is named DJ? The film has countless jokes that feel similarly stale. Besides them, some jokes take a dig at sexism or racism. But they are far removed from the otherwise plot. So, their isolated inclusion feels like a last-minute addition by the writers to seem inclusive and progressive. If you really want to watch such things, choose Emma Seligman’s brilliant “Bottoms” on any given day.

“Jackpot!” has some excellent actors like Dolly de Leon, Murray Hill, and Becky Ann Baker. But they are wasted in a film that has no idea what it wants to be. Then, somehow, MGK receives an acting role in this film as if his unoriginal music career isn’t enough to show his creative bankruptcy! On the surface, the film is like any other cat-and-mouse chase film where some people are trying to kill others for some reason. You can replace ‘people’ with ‘Godzilla’, ‘King Long’, ‘Superhero’ or any similar alternative and get an almost identical result!

‘Jackpot!’ as an Action Comedy

Of course, “Jackpot!” has its share of impressive moments thanks to some wild stunt scenes and John Cena’s charming presence. Out of all the wrestlers-turned-actors, he is my favorite when it comes to consistency. He has surprisingly remarkable comedic timing that outshines Awkwafina in this film at times. Although Awkwafina plays the protagonist, she doesn’t get enough material to showcase her skill set. We have already seen her play a version of this character a couple of times. The script fails her even more.

Although both her and John’s characters have intriguing backstories, the script never fleshes them out. They just appear for a brief dialogue. Moments later, the film returns to its usual comedic action-driven progression. It stays unevenly invested in the visible madness and chaos like a majority of action comedies in the recent past. This is unfortunate because the script had an opportunity to be something like “Squid Game” and criticize the animalistic opportunism of capitalism. However, it shows no interest in digging deeper into any such themes.

Even as a goofy, non-intellectual action comedy, “Jackpot!” doesn’t reach the level of “The Nice Guys.” So, it ends up being a largely forgettable film with just a few bits of humor that work.

Read More: Everything Coming to Prime Video in August 2024

Jackpot! (2024) Movie Trailer:

Jackpot! (2024) Movie Links: IMDb, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
Cast: Awkwafina, John Cena, Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Murray Hill, Becky Ann Baker, Dolly de Leon
Jackpot! (2024) Movie Runtime: 1h 44m, Genre: Comedy/Action

Where to watch Jackpot!