Prime Video has a new number one movie - just don’t read the reviews

Prime Video’s new chart-topping movie comes from the director of Bridesmaids and Spy, but Jackpot! is currently Paul Feig’s worst-reviewed movie in a decade.

But let’s start with the JackPot! primer. This is an extreme high concept comedy. It’s set in a future version of America where a new kind of lottery is setup.

A person is chosen, a winner. That person wins billions of dollars, but is also fair game for murder until sunset.

If they survive, they get the money. If someone kills them, that person gets the cash.

Awkwafina stars as Katie, a struggling actress who gets picked in the lottery. John Cena also stars, as an agent who can try to keep these “winners” alive at a cost of 10% of the prize pot. And with $3.6 billion up for grabs, that's a lot of cash.

With everyone out to kill Katie, you can imagine Jackpot! has a recipe for plenty of murderous action. Take a look at the trailer:

Jackpot!’s reviews are mixed at best. Up towards the more positive end we find a handful of reviews around the 3/5 mark that paint it as a silly and fun watch.

Empire’s 3/5 review says “Paul Feig is mostly back on form with a likeable, frantic, murderous, madcap money-grab of a high-concept comedy. It could be funnier, but it rarely stops for breath.”

IGN’s 6/10 review is a bit of a shoulder shrug. "It fails to embrace all the things that could make it great. Even its title, changed from the charmingly on-the-nose Grand Death Lotto, betrays a comfort with settling. It’s not technically bad, but it’s not especially good either,” says IGN.

JoBlo also gave the 6/10, but the review has a more positive tone. "Jackpot! works well as a distraction and timewaster for when you like low-stakes movies that will make you laugh while watching people get their asses kicked creatively,” it reads.

The Guardian’s 2/5 review is less generous, though, saying “enthusiastic mugging and gurning from the cast can’t hide a feeble, flailing screenplay that clings to its single idea like a lifebelt.”

Director Paul Feig has already stated he’d like to do a sequel to the film, despite never having made a sequel to more acclaimed projects like Bridesmaids and Spy.

“We’d LOVE to do a sequel. This one was just too much fun and there’s so much more fun to be had. Just sayin’, @PrimeVideo," Feig posted on X.

Feig does have a sequel to A Simple Favor in the works too. “I can’t speak for Amazon, but we did our first [test screening]. I’m seven weeks into my director’s cut — but I always try to do a test screening … and we went through the roof. We scored really high,” Feig told Deadline.

A Simple Favor 2 wrapped shooting in April, and is expected to hit screens in 2025.

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