Jackpot!

After the misfiring Potter-esque fantasy The School For Good And Evil, Paul Feig is back on relatively solid ground with this straightforwardly enjoyable action comedy. Jackpot! occupies a similar space as Feig’s Spy, The Heat, or even a smidge of Bridesmaids: a high-concept action comedy full of wild set-pieces and frenzied action sequences.

Set in the very near future, it plays like a cross between The Purge and It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Aspiring actor Katie (Awkwafina) unwittingly finds herself the subject of a deadly lottery: whoever murders her will become a billionaire, leading to an enjoyably chaotic manhunt on the streets of Los Angeles. If she survives, she becomes the winner. Only lottery protector Noel (John Cena) can help her — for a cut of her potential winnings.

John Cena is the surprise MVP here, contrasting his big-bicep buffness with very funny dad humour.

Feig has cited Jackie Chan as an inspiration, and while that’s a lofty, near-impossible bar to reach, Jackpot! does have some of his manic, panicked energy, with stunt coordinators James Young and Alex Benevent fostering a breathless pace. A neat choice is that no guns are allowed in this lottery, leading to increasingly creative weapons of choice — chairs, high-heeled shoes, mannequin heads — and seemingly everyone in Los Angeles is willing to become a murderer if it wins them the big prize (shout out to a nice little role for Triangle Of Sadness’s Dolly De Leon, as a sweet grandma you would be wise not to trust).

There is some light social commentary on late-stage capitalism and the desperation for a quick buck; early scenes of poverty and devastation on the streets of Los Angeles suggest a more satirical bent, before the script largely abandons any meaningful exploration. Still, it’s nice to see a funny film with at least a half-baked political idea.

But this is a comedy, first and foremost. While the Judd Apatow approach of “alts” — allowing seasoned improvisers to come up with alternative lines on the day — feels sloppy and inconsistent at this point, it does occasionally bear fruit. Awkwafina is engaging and sympathetic company, handling the wisecracks as confidently as the pathos. Yet it’s Cena who is the surprise MVP here, contrasting his big-bicep buffness with some very funny, sweetly earnest dad humour (he is, improbably, a proud Harry Potter-loving Hufflepuff).