The Luckiest Man in America

We decided to watch The Luckiest Man in America totally out of the blue. None of us had seen a trailer, read a synopsis, or even knew it was based on a true story. All we gathered was that it involved a game show... and a really lucky guy. Naturally, we expected some quirky competition drama. What we got instead was the story of Michael - a down-on-his-luck ice cream man just trying to hold his crumbling life together.

Winny felt for the guy early on. Michael's financial struggles and family breakdowns hit hard, especially as he tried to keep a connection with his daughter. Willow, meanwhile, kept questioning the rules of the game and what kind of stakes were really on the table. How does a man walk into a show and start winning everything? He was genuinely curious the whole way through.

Mimikyu was totally locked into the story, though every now and then she'd comment on how surreal it felt. The people in the show seemed too perfect - big plastic smiles, over-the-top energy - almost creepy in how artificial it got. Amy and Tails just sat back and enjoyed it casually, laughing at the awkward moments and clapping when things got wild. Sweet had a real appreciation for the early '80s look and vibe - the colors, the clothes, even the retro TV lights. He especially loved Paul Walter Hauser's performance and kept calling it "quietly brilliant."

That said, the movie isn't without its flaws. There's a slow middle stretch where the pacing just stalls, and some of the emotional arcs - especially between Michael and the people closest to him - don't go as deep as they could have. A few of us were expecting more weight or a bigger payoff by the end. Instead, it sort of... just ends. Not badly, but not with a bang either.

Still, for a night where none of us expected much, it turned out to be a pretty solid 90-minute watch. Definitely something different - part quirky drama, part character study, and all wrapped in a retro TV glow.

Final Rating from the Crew: 7/10 🎰📺

Saw this at a TIFF screening last night, theatre completely sold out. The film itself is a pretty nice 90-minute film mostly sitting on one set. While the film does have a really strong premise, it most definetly loses its steam in the latter acts due to its lack of understanding of where to go. I really adored Paul Walter Hauser in this, but his character felt severly underwritten- it sorta seemed like he was many things for a long time and yet, he just turned out to be a normal pretty intelligent man. They kept alluding to something big was going to happen at the end with a twist, but it never comes, leaving an odd sour taste in my mouth as the credits rolled. But its still a very enjoyable casual wednesday night watch.

Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser) is an out of work ice cream van driver who has entered the popular U. S. quiz show Press Your Luck hosted by Peter Tomarken (Walter Goggins). After a weak start he starts winning and winning and the executives including the boss, Bill Carruthers (David Strathairn) start to assume he is up to something.

This is an interesting, heavily overdramatised true story featuring a good central performance from master of eccentrics Hauser and fine support from Goggins and the ever wonderful Straithairn. What drives this is trying to understand how he's doing it and why, which is hardly difficult to work out. That's fine but the clear dramatic license with the story rather stretches this into territory where it's hard to buy into / believe everything. Good performances though.

I remember this happening and here it is, in a movie. They did a great job re-telling this story with an amazing cast to boot.

Hauser delivers another great performance of the main character in a true story. Although Black Bird was a much better production, this still nails it all in a movie length feature.

Always good to see Goggins in anything and he plays the host here to a tee.

Very interesting behind the scenes storyline as well, something that nobody really knew about unless they were actually there. Obviously not everything is exactly what happened but I think they did a great job here.

Dragged a bit near the end but still only and hour and a half. Good movie for the morning.

Peese.

The Luckiest Man In America is apparently based on a true person although I never heard of him. The movie is categorized as a thriller but it isn't, it's basically a drama which is normally not my favourite genre but this one was actually a good movie. The cast was very well chosen. Paul Walter Hauser has one of those faces to play a weirdo, like he did before in the excellent movie Richard Jewell and the great series Black Bird. This time he plays the contestant in a game show, again a character that can be qualified as weird. Good acting from the entire cast and an easy and pleasant story to follow.