Follow up:
LOTTERY TICKET
Warner Bros. Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, language including a drug reference, some violence and brief underage drinking.
Run Time: 99 Minutes
URL: www.lotteryticketmovie.com
Starring: Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi Naughton, Keith David, Charles Murphy, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Terry Crews, Loretta Devine and Ice Cube Directed by: Erik White
Screenplay by: Abdul Williams, from a story by Erik White & Abdul Williams
Produced by: Mark Burg, Oren Koules, Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson and Matt Alvarez
Executive Produced by: Ice Cube, Timothy M. Bourne and Steven P. Wegner
Studio Synopsis:
Kevin Carson (Bow Wow), a young man living in the projects, wins $370 million in a nationwide lottery. When his opportunistic neighbors discover he has the winning ticket in his possession, Kevin must survive their greedy and sometimes even threatening actions over a three-day holiday weekend before he can claim his prize.
The film’s all-star ensemble cast is led by Bow Wow (“The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”), Brandon T. Jackson (“Tropic Thunder”), Naturi Naughton (“Fame”), Keith David (“All About Steve”), Charlie Murphy (“Frankenhood”), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Wire”), Terry Crews (“Terminator Salvation,” the TBS series “Are We There Yet?”), Loretta Devine (“Crash”) and Ice Cube (“First Sunday,” the TBS series “Are We There Yet?”). It also stars Bill Bellamy (“Any Given Sunday,” TV’s “October Road”), Mike Epps (“The Hangover”) and Grammy Award-winning rapper T-Pain.
“Lottery Ticket” is directed by Erik White, marking his feature directorial debut. The screenplay is by Abdul Williams, from a story by Erik White & Abdul Williams.
It is produced by Mark Burg and Oren Koules, producers on all of the “Saw” horror hits; Alcon Entertainment’s Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson, who recently produced the Academy Award®-nominated smash “The Blind Side”; and Matt Alvarez, whose producing credits include “Are We There Yet?” and its sequel, “Are We Done Yet?,” Ice Cube (“Beauty Shop”), Timothy M. Bourne (“The Blind Side”) and Steven P. Wegner (“Racing Stripes”) serve as executive producers, with co-producers Brad Kaplan, Andrew Wilson and Yolanda T. Cochran.
The behind-the-scenes creative team is led by director of photography Patrick Cady (“The Stepfather”), production designer Roshelle Berliner (“Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”), editor Harvey Rosenstock (“The Kings of Appletown”) and costume designer Sandra Hernandez (“Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist”).
Music for “Lottery Ticket” is composed by Teddy Castellucci (“The Wedding Singer”). Dave Jordan and JoJo Villanueva (“Iron Man”) are the music supervisors.
Alcon Entertainment presents a Burg-Koules Production, a Cube Vision Production, the comedy “Lottery Ticket.” Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for “sexual content, language including a drug reference, some violence and brief underage drinking,” it will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
J.P.’s Take:
Those of you who are fans of hip-hop may have heard this term from the lips of countless rappers, “I Gotta Get the C.R.E.A.M.” The acronym stands for “Cash Rules Everything Around Me.” In the film “Lottery Ticket,” the phrase definitely holds true to its meaning for Kevin.
To be honest, “Lottery Ticket” is a formulaic, somewhat family friendly comedy, which actually wins a few laughs. It’s complete with your typical story line of the good kid trying to make it out of the hood. Kevin Carson (Shad Gregory Moss, a.k.a rapper Bow Wow) is a young man fresh out of high school that has aspirations of designing his own shoe line. He works for Foot Locker and lives with his Grandmother (Loretta Devine), a devout woman of faith. They cope with the day-to-day struggles of living in the slums of the south — that is until they win the lottery. Unable to claim his winning ticket until after the 4th of July holiday, the film basically follows Kevin – and his buddies Benny (Brandon T. Jackson) and Stacie (Naturi Naughton) — as he dips and dodges the prison thug Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe), the area’s hot girl Nikki (singer Teairra Mari), and gangsters Sweet T (Keith David) and Jimmy The Driver (Terry Crews). The comical skits roll in from there as every body in the neighborhood literally chases him down knowing he’s now the Pharaoh of the ghetto.
There are some particularly funny moments in the film as Kevin tries his best to keep the winning ticket under wraps. One of my favorite laugh out loud moments is the scene with the false profit Reverend Taylor (Mike Epps), as he seems to have his own plans for Kevin’s money. The Rev preaches a sermon of how God wants him to have the “good life,” which consists of a full slide show of photos, including a palace-like church and dumping his current wife for a new and improved supermodel-type. Other moments I enjoyed are scenes featuring Ice Cube (who also produced the film) playing Jerome “Thump” Washington, a mysterious tenant, who becomes a confidante to Kevin. In one scene, Washington drags a battered Kevin to his apartment. As Kevin recovers on his couch, Washington leans over him and says, “You got knocked the (f-bomb) out.” It’s one of those galvanizing tributes from Cube’s breakout film “Friday” that many fans may point out immediately.
Midway through, the movie takes a left turn at the “Boyz n the Hood” street. You’ll find darker situations where Kevin’s friendship with best friend Benny is on the rocks and his continuing run-ins with Lorenzo and his crew. As the thugs and gangsters close in on Kevin, he literally fears for his life as he is basically beaten and tossed around like a rag doll. Guns are being drawn and some pretty bloody fights break out in spots to complete the bleakness of those moments. But, there are happier moments in the film, too (such as the friendship between Kevin and Stacie), that add a lighthearted touch to break up scenes between the beat downs and the comedy.
Stand out performances came from the cast. Bow Wow, who actually shows some promise as an actor, portrays Kevin with an ambiguous innocent and snot-nosed cockiness as he tries to sort his way through life. I enjoyed Epps’ delivery as the Reverend; playing him with a dry, yet sniveling snide results. Surprisingly, Ice Cube changes up the pace in his barrage of past characters as he goes for a more subtle fatherly approach as old man Mr. Washington. He plays the character like the black Mr. Miyagi (the “Karate Kid” character played by Pat” Morita in the original films and recently by Jackie Chan) with a strong gentleness and sarcastic sense of humor.
I saw this film with Sidewalks Entertainment’s executive producer and host Richard R. Lee, who thought the film was predicable and more on the drama side than a comedy. He didn’t find the script and the scenes that amusing, although there were brief moments he chuckled at. As he admits he hasn’t seen too many African-American comedies (he has seen bits and pieces of “Friday” and “Next Friday,” and he thought those films were ten times funnier than “Lottery Ticket”), he did like the performances from the cast. He was quite impressed, liked I was, with Bow Wow’s acting abilities and thought he was perfect for the role of Kevin. Richard also found Jackson’s and Naughton’s chemistry with Bow Wow as one of the best parts of the film. He also thought Mari was stunning and she played the sexy Nikki as the perfect gold digger. Additionally, he enjoyed David’s, Crews’, and Epps’ respective roles because these actors bring humor to any characters they do. The worst part of the film to him was that there were too many so-called bad guys in “Lottery.” He thought the Lorenzo character was really one dimensional (he said you knew he was corrupted from the start with no redeeming quality), and he would have preferred more scenes with David’s Sweet T character as the main baddie. Since “Lottery” is labeled as a comedy, he just wished the scenes were funnier, but he really praised the actors.
Although the story of “Lottery Ticket” itself isn’t truly inspiring, I felt the way it plays out make for a nice mixture of comedy and drama. I thought it was a funny and straight forward.