The ceiling’s pretty low on the action comedy category — a genre whose biggest hits tend to pepper anemic shootouts with wisecracks from former “Saturday Night Live” stars. With Prime Video entry “ Jackpot! ,” director Paul Feig switches up the formula, crafting stunt-intensive set-pieces where the action itself makes you laugh. That could mean anything from Awkwafina hiding out among the wax figures of a tacky Hollywood museum to the sight of ex-wrestler John Cena taking on a room of black belts with the “Crazy Rich Asians” breakout strapped to his back.
Why are people trying to kill Awkwafina? “Jackpot!” asks audiences to buy in to a clever but often illogical premise about a radical rule change to the California lottery. In the year 2030, the winning ticket comes with a price: The money’s only yours to keep if you can stay alive till sundown. In the meantime, winners must navigate an impromptu Hunger Games on the streets of Los Angeles, in which their winnings double as a sort of bounty, awarded to whoever’s crafty enough to kill them.
No offense to Rob Yescombe (who was named one of Variety ’s Screenwriters to Watch last year), but that idea’s about as far as he got in a sloppy screenplay that’s otherwise propped up by whatever improv the cast could bring and surprisingly funny fight scenes. Feig shows how the state’s win-lose-or-die lottery works right out of the gate, as that day’s winner (Seann William Scott) tries to outrun a greedy m.