Jackpot!: No winners here

Jackpot! (2024) • View trailer

No stars: TURKEY. Rated R, for violence, vulgar sexual content, and pervasive profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang

I thought Trap would be the summer’s worst movie.

 

But no; this abysmal, live-action cartoon defies description. (I’ll nonetheless give it a shot.)

 

Although Katie (Awkwafina) and Noel (John Cena) cleverly think to hide in a rich
musician's panic room, there's still the matter of closing the door before their hundreds
of pursuers force their way inside.

The budget apparently came from what all involved pooled from their weekly lunch money. Sets and locations are limited to existing Los Angeles-area venues, each briefly closed for the 15 minutes required to shoot one take of each scene. Most “costumes” go no further than street clothes.

Aside from the top half-dozen roles, all other characters appear to have been cast with random folks snatched from the streets; they certainly can’t act a whit. They aren’t even granted names in the cast list; they’re instead billed as Scary Goth Guy, Baby Puppeteer, Asshole Dad, Food Truck Guy, Bald Alley Cop, and so forth.

 

Paul Feig hardly warrants his credit as director; he appears to have told cinematographer John Schwartzman to point the camera, turn it on, and film whatever each untrained idiot felt like doing at that particular moment.

 

Rob Yescombe similarly doesn’t deserve to be acknowledged for his so-called script, because most — all? — of the dialogue appears to have been improvised on the spot. And quite badly, in most cases. It’s the sort of “banter” that regards relentless F-bombs as the height of comedy.

 

This may be the worst case of lunatics running the asylum ever foisted on an unsuspecting public. Grade-school theater productions are more convincing.

 

Until now, I’d have believed Awkwafina incapable of making a bad movie, and possessing the good sense to avoid anything that smelled of one. (Wrong again.)

 

As a sidebar, I’ve never cared for the tasteless “state-sanctioned murder as a cathartic escape valve” subgenre that has become popular of late. Japan’s Battle Royale, unleashed in 2000, started this dystopian trend;  2013’s The Purge and its (thus far) five sequels turned it into a deplorable franchise. By the time South Korea’s Squid Game came along, three years ago, the concept had become mainstream ... which doesn’t say anything good about human nature.

 

This pathetic turkey joins their ranks. It might be the most shameful yet, since it’s supposed to be a comedy.

 

Nerve: Taut, timely little thriller

Nerve (2016) • View trailer 
3.5 stars. Rated PG-13, for dangerous and risky behavior, sexual candor, violence, profanity, drug content and fleeting nudity, all involving teens
By Derrick Bang

Numerous psychological studies — most famously Stanley Milgram’s electro-shock obedience experiments, and Jane Elliott’s “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise — have demonstrated the malleability of human judgment, particularly when peer pressure is involved.

Having heard once too often that she's timid and unwilling to do anything wild and
impetuous, Vee (Emma Roberts) impulsively signs up for an Internet social media game:
as a "player" who, during the course of a single evening, will be challenged by a series
of increasingly dangerous "dares."

Or, to put it more bluntly, Common sense ... isn’t.

Novelist Jeanne Ryan tapped into that vibe, and quite shrewdly, with her 2012 young adult novel Nerve. Co-directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have turned the book into a thoughtful, absorbing and quite suspenseful little thriller. Jessica Sharzer’s script is spot-on, and the young stars are well cast. The result is one of the summer’s delightful surprises: a modest suspenser that also functions as a troubling cautionary tale.

Because, quite frankly, the premise feels all too probable. As Ryan notes, on her web site, “I write young adult stories that could take place next week — but let’s hope they don’t.”

Joost and Schulman mount their film cleverly, utilizing cutting-edge personal tech and on-screen graphics in a way that supports the narrative without calling too much attention to itself. Unlike so many of today’s “found footage” efforts, where the story runs a poor second to the technique, the various gimmicks here — CGI overlays, instant message “balloons,” visualized smart phone apps and more — feel necessary.

Best of all, the co-directors understand pacing. With a skilled assist from editors Madeleine Gavin and Jeff McEvoy, they briskly set up the premise, kick it into gear, ratchet up the suspense, and build to a stylish finale, all in an economical 96 minutes. It’s refreshing to see filmmakers who know when to get off the stage.

Shy, straight-arrow Staten Island high school senior Vee Delmonico (Emma Roberts) forever stands in the shadow of her outgoing, aggressively slutty best friend Sydney (Emily Meade). The latter is a school legend, always accompanied by an entourage led by Liv (Kimiko Glenn), who functions as Sydney’s de facto press agent.

Every waking moment of these teens’ lives is monitored and motivated by an imprudent desire to enhance the 15 minutes of faux fame seemingly promised by Facebook, Tinder, Instagram and their ilk. It’s a drug that requires ever-greater fixes: an addiction that Vee has managed to resist, thanks to the support of longtime best friend Tommy (Miles Heizer), who seems to understand the dangerous side effects of public recklessness.

But that’s of little consolation to Vee, who also chafes under the suffocating embrace of her mother, Nancy (Juliette Lewis). Mom has cause: Just a few years earlier, Vee’s older brother was killed tragically. As a result, Nancy expects her sole remaining child to continuing living at home while attending a local college, whereas Vee — of course — has her heart set on a distant arts school, where she could nurture her talents as a photographer.

(Sharzer’s script is good, but not perfect. Details regarding Vee’s brother’s death remain undisclosed, as does any information about her absent father. These lapses aren’t crippling, but they are noticeable.)