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Entertainment
Movie Review
A Comedy
‘Lottery Ticket’ Comes Up a Few Numbers Short
NEW YORK--“Lottery Ticket” is no prize.
The comedy is broad, bordering on offensive, the laughs are few, and the positive message feels tacked on. But star Bow Wow shows his early youthful talent has blossomed into a bona fide star appeal.
The ultimate message of giving back to the community is, of course, an important and valid one, but as social commentary, it’s delivered rather feebly.
Many of the characters are stereotypes played for laughs. So, any sense of conscience is undermined by the ridiculous antics and caricatures, which seems to lampoon the African-American community rather than find real humor in situations.
The saving race is in a pair of performances, by Bow Wow, who rises above much of the silliness, and Ice Cube, who plays a grizzle recluse who comes to Bow Wow’s rescue. Ice Cube emerges as the movie’s only intriguing character, the sole role with substance.
From the rapper-turned-actor’s early days as an inner-city tough in “Boyz in the Hood,” followed years later by his ruefully funny turns in the “Barbershop” movies, he has evolved into a multi-faceted character actor, with occasional deviations into family-friendly turf in such films as 2005’s “Are We There Yet” and its sequel.
Bow Wow plays Kevin, a good guy who works at Foot Locker, lives with his grandma (Loretta Devine) and dreams of becoming a shoe designer. Amid lottery jackpot fever, he carelessly buys a ticket, though he says he doesn’t believe in playing.
“It’s just designed to keep poor people poor,” he insists in the movie’s most insightful line.
But hope is hard to resist. Of course, he wins the $370 million, but the winning numbers are announced just before a long holiday weekend, so Kevin has to endure three days of mayhem before he can claim his prize.
Meanwhile, he’s beset by a parade of cliched obstacles: a trash-talking gossip, a nasty thug, a sinister crime boss, a hottie siren, a thieving minister. Kevin comes to suspect everyone of opportunism, fearing that even his closest friends may be out for his new-found money.
By the conclusion, it’s no surprise that he learns to value friendship over finances and the true-blue gal pal over the seductive gold digger.
Director Erik White draws an accomplished performance from Bow Wow and a mature dimensional portrayal by Ice Cube, but the rest of the film is fracture, from occasionally intrusive handheld camera moves to sudden shifts of tone from broad comedy to gritty violence.
Despite its predictability, the high concept has the potential for lively comic farce. But as executed, more jittery and slapstick than energetic or satirical, it’s no winner.
