Kevin Carson was trying to live a good life. Living with his grandma, he had aspirations of greatness and doing good. Walking a straight path is difficult, especially in a ‘project’-esque type of environment. His life soon changed when he ends up winning a 370 million dollar lottery. His simple life of good nature soon turns into a life of confusion, greed and running with the wrong people. The easy life quickly turns hard when all the things he despised end up being all the things that he becomes.
Lottery Ticket is a unique film that was dying to be a comedy. Comedies are tough to write and even tougher to perform. Don’t get me wrong, the movie does have its moments of funny; especially when Kevin (played by Bow Wow) first finds out he has the winning lottery ticket. You have quips here and there such as, “You haven’t had a job since Thriller…”, but ultimately the film can’t stay on track to produce a coherent storyline that flows smoothly. The movie finds itself jumping back and forth between good and bad, without the typical smooth rollercoaster ride that good movies generally produce. How this should have gone is that Kevin introduces his tough life and then finds out his good fortune. The writers should have built his good graces up for a good portion of the film only to have his kingdom tumble down and ‘the right thing to do’ established towards the end. What comes out of Lottery Ticket is good situations (obtaining the ticket) to bad situations (Lorenzo — the bully — taking the ticket) to good situations (Kevin standing up to Lorenzo) to bad situations (Lorenzo taking the ticket again) to good situations (the ending I will not reveal). There’s just too much up and down with the story and not enough time for the audience to digest what’s going on and appreciate it.
Complaining aside, I did appreciate the cast Lottery Ticket had intact. Bow Wow did a great job as the lead, bringing some very fluid acting. You will feel like he’s the good guy, as he emits this pretty well. His costar, Brandon Jackson, complimented him very well. Jackson, who most know as Alpha Chino from Tropic Thunder did a great job trying to keep Kevin on the ground. I think Jackson is going to be huge if given the right role. The rest of the folks did fine, but I have to give special compliments to Ice Cube. This guy has impressed the hell out of me since Three Kings, as he expands his acting abilities with every film. He plays a great old man, ex-boxer, named Mr. Washington. He isn’t in the film long, but he makes it count.
Moving on…
Now with all of this said, the movie does expose a bit of a community issue. The idea of a community breaking apart at the drop of a dime is neither funny nor something that should be taken lightly. It reveals a deeper issue within a poverty-stricken community that has people trying to rob/manipulate others instead of trying to improve the overall way of living. For me, the sensitive type, this was a bit more a plot point than the movie probably intended. It added a bit of a ‘sad’ element to the story and it made this plot point a huge focal point for me. Again, intentional or not this point was very tough to see and very much an eye-opener.
Anyway, while the movie didn’t really work as a comedy. There was too much jumping around and not enough smooth transition between plot points. As a movie that wants to make you aware of a ongoing problem within a poverty stricken community, this movie works fine.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this film, you’re getting some good HD. There isn’t much graininess to the picture and most of the shots are complimented by sunny days that shine really nicely in high definition. Good lighting is always key in the success of good visuals on Blu-ray and Lottery Ticket does well (not exceedingly well, but good enough to be called ‘better than DVD’). As for the audio, you get a nice soundtrack mixed in with some well mastered dialogue coming to you in DTS-HD. It’s a bit more refined than the video, in terms of quality, but it completes the Blu-ray package quite nicely.
Finally, as for the features here’s what you’re getting:
– Lottery Ticket: Custom Kicks
– Junior’s Guide to the Corner Store
– Everybody’s In: Casting for Lottery Ticket
– The Du-Rag Model
– Deleted Scenes
The custom kicks and du-rag features are great. You get some good material that is informative, as it is lighthearted. The casting feature is one of the more interesting features, as you get a nice bit of info on what went into the casting of the film. The deleted scenes are rightfully deleted, but still interesting. I’ve seen better movies with less features, so I’m impressed with what Lottery Ticket brings to the table in terms of special features.