As much as this could have delivered more fun and violence, it’s still a good old blast that gets plenty of chuckles out of me. I’ll admit, though, that the opening did throw me off because of how oddly devoid of gore the fights in it were. When this continued throughout the movie, it genuinely made me wonder if it was rated PG-13, at which point I double-checked and learned it has the R-rating. This absolutely doesn’t make sense, and it’s such a peculiar choice for the movie to miss out on all these opportunities to throw blood and gore all over the place with imaginative kills. I could even see a version of this that devotes itself to a bonkers horror-comedy route. But even on the action-comedy route, again, I want the ridiculous violence, and this doesn’t properly provide that.

Such a complaint doesn’t ultimately detract from the delight I get out of watching Awkwafina’s Katie and John Cena’s Noel do their best to survive the greedy mobs chasing after them. I know tons of people are annoyed by Awkwafina’s onscreen presence, but personally, I find her comedic shtick to be humorous. She certainly summons up some charming chemistry with Cena, who’s abundantly funny in his own right and always commits to the bit, no matter how utterly silly it becomes (in addition, this is his second Prime Video movie to release in 2024 after Ricky Stanicky, a dumb comedy that has stuck with me more than I’d expected it to). As for the supporting cast, Ayden Mayeri easily shines, taking the simplest of lines and jazzing them up with extra flair to make them all the more hilarious. It helps to add an endearing quality to her character, even while I’m supposed to be rooting against her. I very much hope to see Mayeri grab up bigger roles down the line. Shout-out to Dolly de Leon, too, and it’s sad that she only gets a small part, but at least she shows up at all.

Sure, the script progresses along a fairly formulaic road that could afford to be polished up, that suffers from multiple beats where I wonder about the rules of this dystopian future and how they could be further fleshed-out, that passes up the chance to offer sharp commentary on capitalism. But it gains a big boost from the actors and how much they’re willing to plunge themselves into the movie. Again, I still think this could have gone farther with its shenanigans, but it does provide some enjoyable action sequences and eye-caching set design. And when it comes to the banter and quips, it lands more often than not, like one character going, “It’s a dead end!” and the other person remarking, “I’ve seen deader.” Some of the dialogue (which must be full of ad-libbing) can veer toward cheesy territory, but it’s usually the right kind of cheese that puts a smile on my face.

Overall, I’d say Jackpot! would be worth checking out if you’re looking for something decently entertaining to stream. Even the credits bloopers are quite amusing as well.