“The Love of Money. . .”
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What You Need To Know:
JACKPOT! has some great messages about the importance of being a good person, trustworthy, and loyal. There is also insightful commentary on the way many people lose their minds to gain money, power and pleasure, and losing their souls in the process. As Jesus says in Luke 12:14, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Also, Paul warns in 1 Timothy 6:10, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” JACKPOT! does an excellent job illustrating these teachings. However, these positive messages are marred by multiple lewd references, intense action violence and more than 160 obscenities and profanities. This negative content makes JACKPOT! excessive and unacceptable.
Content:
Strong moral worldview with Christian, redemptive elements stresses doing the right thing, the heroes put each other and their moral sensibilities before money, the main character is a former child actor who took a break from acting to take care of her ailing elderly mother until her death, heroes repeatedly risk their lives to save each other, at one point the main character is heads to a “safe zone” which is marked by an enormous, lit cross, and once they’re they are rich, they establish several charities for those in need, including free protection for lottery winners, but the characters use foul and crude language frequently, plus there’s a minor “transgender” character;
At least 176 obscenities (including at least 115 “f” words) and at least two strong profanities using the name of Jesus;
Strong action violence includes mob related violence, beatings throughout, weapons used includes knives, drill guns, grenades, swords, axes, bludgeoning, martial arts, choking, wasp venom, burnings, car crashes, and explosions;
Crude sexual references throughout, some kissing, suggestive dialogue about sex with mannequins, and a “transgender” character is the lottery host;
Upper male nudity;
Adults drink alcohol in a few scenes;
Adults smoke tobacco, references are made to drugs, people smoke marijuana at a party, there’s mention of going on a “cocaine bender”; and,
Dysfunctional family.
More Detail:
Katie was a child actor who took a long break to care for her ailing mother until her death. With only a bus ticket and $600 cash, Katie’s back in LA with new dreams of making it big in the movie business. She finds the city rundown and impoverished. Los Angeles is also chaotic and riddled with crime. Her Airbnb is so bad, sewage leaks all over her clothes. The Airbnb hosts rent out some clothes to her so Katie can attend an audition. Katie unknowingly activates a winning lottery ticket she finds in the pocket of the rented clothing. Mayhem ensues.
Katie runs for her life from what she ironically thinks is the result of a very competitive acting industry. Katie tries to fight off a barrage of physical attacks. An amateur lottery winter protector, Noel, arrives on scene and saves her life. He explains that anyone can legally kill her and take her winnings until sundown. The only rule is they can’t use real bullet guns.
Noel offers to protect Katie until sundown, for 10% of her lottery winnings. Katie wants out of the game, but it may be too late. Faced with no other choice but to trust Noel, she accepts the offer from the muscle-bound fighting machine. The pair decide to hide in rap star and songwriter “Machine Gun Kelly’s” panic room.
However, Katie has trust issues because of all the disappointments in her life, not to mention the fact that the entire city is trying to murder her. So, she holds Noel at (dart) gunpoint. Noel has a hard time making Katie believe he’s really a good, altruistic guy trying to help her. They discover they aren’t safe in the panic room, though.
So, Noel calls in a favor from his business rival, Lewis Lottery Protection Services. Lewis rescues Katie initially, but she soon finds out she’s now in the hands of the deadliest foes yet.
JACKPOT! has a few great messages about the importance of being a good person, with an emphasis on being trustworthy and loyal. It also has some insightful commentary on the way many people in our culture lose their minds to gain money, power and pleasure, and, even worse, lose their souls in the process.
In Luke 12:14, Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Also, Paul warns in 1 Timothy 6:10, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” The movie does an excellent job illustrating these teachings too.
In addition, at one point, Katie heads to a “safe zone,” which is marked by an enormous, lit cross. Even more, Katie and Noel put each other and good morals before the pursuit of money. They risk their lives to save each other. It’s a true shame, therefore, that these positive biblical messages in JACKPOT! are marred by multiple sexual references, intense action violence, some drug references, and more than 160 obscenities and profanities.
MOVIEGUIDE® rates JACKPOT! excessive and unacceptable.
